Former Rwandan minister in genocide probe found dead

A former Rwandan government minister who was indicted on charges of involvement in the 1994 genocide was found dead floating in a Brussels canal, officials said today.

Former trade minister Juvenal Uwilingiyimana faced a variety of genocide charges from the United Nations’ International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in Arusha when he disappeared from his home on November 21.

His badly decomposed body was recovered from the canal last Saturday. The cause of death was not announced.

“This individual, although an indictee of the Tribunal, voluntarily agreed to co-operate in the search for truth and justice for the Rwanda genocide of 1994. I convey my sincere condolences to his family,” ICTR Prosecutor Hassan Bubacar Jallow said in a statement.

After he was indicted on June 13, Uwilingiyimana had co-operated with the investigators, the ICTR said, and had a last interview three days before his disappearance.