A former Rwandan government minister accused of participating in the 1994 genocide has been found dead in mysterious circumstances in Brussels, it was confirmed yesterday.
The naked and decomposing body of Juvenal Uwilingiyimana was pulled from a canal, more than three weeks after he disappeared from home on Nov. 21.
DNA tests have confirmed his identity but the cause of death has not yet been established because the body appears to have been mangled by passing boats. Uwilingiyimana's hands were severed and his wedding ring is missing.
"This is either because we are dealing with professional murderers or it's just by chance, that a boat cut off his hands," the family's lawyer, Sven Mary, said. According to the news agency Belga, an autopsy showed no signs of a violent death.
After he was charged with genocide in June and an international arrest warrant was issued in August, the former minister for parks agreed to cooperate with investigators from the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), based in Arusha, Tanzania.
He was regarded as a potentially valuable witness who could help the ICTR prosecution penetrate the "akazu," the cabinet linked to the presidential family who are said to have directed the genocide. But the family's lawyer said he withdrew cooperation shortly before his death.
Mary said, "He had to sign some documents, this is what the family says, identifying persons that he didn't want to. For him it wasn't the truth and he didn't want to work with them any more."
On Nov. 28, seven days after his disappearance, a letter said to have been written by Uwilingiyimana was posted on the Internet.
The letter suggested he had ended his cooperation with the tribunal because he was put under pressure to identify high-ranking individuals. The authenticity of the letter has not been established.
Uwilingiyimana's lawyer said he feared prosecution if he did not cooperate with the ICTR.
"I know from his family that he had to cope with a lot of pressure. If he didn't work with the investigators, they had this international arrest warrant. The moment he stopped working with them, the pressure began."
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