Rwanda’s intelligence chief, wanted in Spain for war crimes, has been arrested in London.
BBC Newsnight has learned that the Metropolitan Police’s Extradition Unit arrested Karenzi Karake at Heathrow Airport on Saturday.
The Metropolitan Police confirmed that the 54-year-old Rwandan appeared before Westminster Magistrates Court after being detained under a European Arrest Warrant. He has been remanded in custody until June 25.
Karake is Director General of Rwanda’s National Intelligence and Security Services. Karake fought during the 1990-1994 Rwandan Civil War and later served as Rwanda’s intelligence chief between 1994 and 1997, and then as deputy commander of the African Union peacekeeping force in Darfur.
Karake is one of 40 Rwandan commanders named in an indictment issued in 2008 by Spanish investigative judge Andreu Merelles.
The Spanish court alleges that while acting as head of military intelligence after the genocide Karake, ordered a number of massacres.
He is also accused of ordering the killing of three Spanish nationals working for the NGO Medicos del Mundo.
The arrest of Karake will potentially bring the British government into conflict with an important regional player with whom it has maintained close ties. In 2013 Rwanda was the 18th biggest recipient of UK aid.
Karake’s is the first arrest of a major RPF figure under charges brought abroad. Tonight Jordi Palou-Loverdos, the lawyer representing nine Spanish massacre victims, told Newsnight: “We hope in the name of the victims that this time justice will be provided and Karenzi Karake will soon be delivered to the Spanish court to have a fair trial, where he can defend himself. And we hope that political or other interests will not neutralise the place for justice, truth and reparation.”
