Fulgence Kayishema, a Rwandan genocide suspect, has appeared in court in Cape Town following his arrest on Wednesday, ahead of his pending extradition to Rwanda.
South African police spokesperson Brigadier Thandi Mbambo previously told the BBC that arresting him – one of the most wanted people in connection with the 1994 Rwandan genocide – was a “big and lengthy operation.”
Mr. Kayishema, 61, “has used a number of false identities, and at the time of his arrest, he was found to be calling himself Donatien Nibashumba,” according to Brig Mbambo.
In 2001, the former police inspector was charged with the murder of over 2,000 ethnic Tutsi men, women, and children inside a Catholic church where they had sought refuge.
The genocide killed 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus.
According to the indictment, Mr. Kayishema was a direct participant in the planning and execution of the massacre on 15 April 1994 at the Nyange church in Kivumu, Kibuye prefecture.
According to reports, Mr. Kayishema and others attempted to burn down the church while the refugees were inside. When that failed, they bulldozed it, burying and killing everyone who had been hiding there.
Their bodies were subsequently buried in mass graves. According to Reuters, he faces five charges in South Africa, including fraud, but he was not asked to enter a plea.
According to Reuters, Mr. Kayishema told journalists in the courtroom that he had no role in any violence.
According to police, he “was working as a laborer in a big farm” in Paarl, about 60 kilometers (37 miles) west of Cape Town.
“When he was arrested, he was staying alone on the farm; his family is in Cape Town; certain things will be investigated; but he was staying alone in the farm,” Brig Mbambo added.
