Precis

"Genocide isn't a crime that grows old."

A man accused by Rwandan authorities of participating in one of the worst atrocities of the 20th century is living in Australia's suburbs, a joint Four Corners and Guardian Australia investigation has found.

More than half a million people were killed during Rwanda's genocide against its Tutsi minority in 1994.

Thirty years on, Guardian reporter Ben Doherty travels to Rwanda to investigate the allegations — and confronts the man accused of being involved in several killings, who is now an Australian citizen.

The findings of the year-long joint Four Corners and Guardian investigation raise tough questions about Australia's immigration screening processes.

4 Corners GFX logo

Music 

00:00

Episode teaser

00:12

BEN DOHERTY, REPORTER: Two men, accused of participating in one of the worst atrocities of the 20th century, are believed to be in Australia.

00:18

BEN DOHERTY ON PHONE: Is that Froduald Rukeshangabo speaking?

FRODUALD RUKESHANGABO ON PHONE: This is Froduald, how are you?

00:26

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  One of them is living in suburban Queensland – the other is a ghost.

00:31

FRODUALD RUKESHANGABO ON PHONE: It’s better we leave it.  It’s better to stop this conversation.

00:40

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  More than half a million people were killed during the genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda.

00:45

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  Do you know who this man is?

00:53

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  30 years later hundreds of alleged perpetrators are still at large.

00:56

ALPHONSE: It’s not fair that he hasn’t been punished.

01:01

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  Survivors want justice…If you could speak with Celestin Munyaburanga, what would you say to him?

GOLITHI: What can I tell him? I am afraid of him.

01:07

FRIDA UMUHOZA ON PHONE: Genocide is not a crime that grows old.

01:23

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  The two men believed to be in Australia have been convicted in absentia by traditional courts -- part of a truth and reconciliation process.  Now,  the Rwandan government wants them back to face justice in new trials.

01:25

PROF. PHIL CLARK, SCHOOL OF ORIENTAL AND AFRICAN STUDIES: Extradition is the best response, if there is sufficient prima facie evidence to suggest that a trial is necessary.

01:42

Music

01:51

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  Rwanda has sent indictments to Australia for both men.

01:53

JOHN BOSCO SIBOYINTORE, GENOCIDE FUGITIVE TRACKING UNIT:  We invite the Australian police, together with the prosecution, to come to Rwanda.

01:57

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  Is the Australian government doing enough to bring alleged perpetrators to justice?

02:04

GRAHAM BLEWITT, FORMER WAR CRIMES PROSECUTOR: It's just a lack of a political will to do something about it, and frankly, that has to change.

02:09

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  We go back to Rwanda to search for answers.

02:15

Title:
THE WANTED
A joint Four Corners / Guardian Investigation

Music

02:20

Frida walking to school for talk. Super:
Reported by Ben Doherty, Guardian Australia

FRIDA UMUHOZA, GENOCIDE SURVIVOR: Oh hi, this is Frida Umuhoza.

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  Frida Umuhoza is visiting a school in Melbourne to talk to teenagers about genocide.

02:30

DIANA: "Oh, we got to connect you to the internet."

02:56

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  At just 14, she was the only member of her family to survive Rwanda’s 1994 genocide against its Tutsi minority.

02:59

DIANA: "Can you please put your hands together and welcome Frida?"

FRIDA UMUHOZA: "Good afternoon."

03:09

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  Frida first learned that Tutsis were hated when she started school.

03:23

FRIDA UMUHOZA: "Every three months, every term the beginning of the term, the principal of the school would come into every class and count how many Tutsis and how many Hutus are in that class.

03:27

And we were made fun of. We were called snakes; we were called cockroaches. So really, we were less than human beings to them."

Archival. Rwanda

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  Belgium, the former colonial power, favoured Rwanda’s minority Tutsi ethnic group over the majority Hutus, and there had been longstanding tension and violence between the two.

03:50

Archival. Plane wreckage

RADIO ARCHIVE FROM 1994: Rwandan officials say the plane was shot down.

04:01

Archival. Juvénal Habyarimana

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  The assassination of Rwanda’s Hutu president, Juvénal Habyarimana in April 1994, was the catalyst for genocide.

04:08

Hutus attack Tutsis

Hutu militia and civilians murdered their Tutsi neighbours, as well as many moderate Hutus.

04:16

Aftermath of massacres. Super: 1994 radio broadcast

RWANDA RADIO ARCHIVE FROM 1994: Come let us rejoice! The cockroaches have been exterminated!

04:25

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  Nothing and nowhere was sacred in this state-sponsored genocide. 

04:39

Archival. Chris Masters for 4 Corners

Four Corners was reporting on the massacres.

04:49

Super: Four Corners, 1994
CHRIS MASTERS

CHRIS MASTERS, FOUR CORNERS REPORTER, 1994: It's very, very hard to comprehend what it's like to be here. It's very, very hard to be here.

04:54

Frida addressing school. Super:
FRIDA UMUHOZA
Genocide survivor

FRIDA UMUHOZA, GENOCIDE SURVIVOR: You do not know what feeling you have, knowing that few hours from now you're going to die. They finished killing our neighbours, and then they got to us. You could choose -- do you want to be killed with a machete, a club or a knife, or a big tree with nails? And I picked a young man with a club. And I said, please don't use a machete on me.

05:06

The one image that tormented me for years was my mother's head being chopped off. Once he hit me, I lost my consciousness. I didn't wake up until everybody had died and they are burying. Long story short, I made it out on my own.  So, ladies and gentlemen, that’s my story.  And God bless all of you.

05:33

Archival. Bodies in river

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  At least two thirds of Rwanda’s Tutsi population – more than half a million people -- were killed in just over one hundred days. It only ended when a Tutsi rebel army took control of the country. 

06:14

Frida interview with Ben in school auditorium

Survivors had to rebuild their lives knowing that some of the people who committed these crimes escaped justice.

06:31

FRIDA UMUHOZA: Are these people, do they watch us? Do they know where we are? So, a lot of people live with monsters in their lives, in their sleep, in their everyday life.

06:38

Frida walking to car

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  After the genocide ended in July 1994, up to two million people fled Rwanda, including an unknown number of the killers.

06:50

Ben driving with Frida

I’ve been told that two alleged perpetrators are here in Australia.

07:02

Frida pours coffee

FRIDA UMUHOZA: "You say you don’t drink, no milk, nothing?"

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  "No milk."… One came from the same district in southern Rwanda as Frida, and I want to ask her about him.

07:15

Ben shows Frida document. Super:
BEN DOHERTY
Guardian Australia

Frida, we've obtained a copy of this 2017 indictment. This was sent by the Rwandan government to the Australian government. It's an indictment and an international arrest warrant for a man called Celeste Munyaburanga. Celestin Munyaburanga was from Nyanza, which is the district in Rwanda…

FRIDA UMUHOZA: Where I’m from.

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  …where you come from. It says now that he's in Canberra.  We can’t find him.

07:26

Frida reads document

We're interested if you could look at that document to see if anything in there is familiar, and if anything you recognise.

07:52

The indictment alleges that Munyaburanga set up a roadblock with soldiers in a neighbourhood called Hanika, where at least 20 Tutsis were killed with traditional weapons, like machetes and clubs.

08:01

FRIDA UMUHOZA: Yeah, I know Vanessa Rugero, because they are extended family of mine.

08:17

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  That's a family member of yours.

FRIDA UMUHOZA: Yeah.

08:22

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  I appreciate it's very difficult to read. I'm sorry.

FRIDA UMUHOZA: It is.

08:30

Frida makes phone call

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  Frida didn’t know Munyaburanga. He wasn’t involved in the attack on her family. But she knows many other survivors who come from Nyanza. 

08:39

MAMA CITRON: "Hello?"

FRIDA UMUHOZA ON PHONE: "Hello, Mama Citron."

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  She’s speaking to a school friend’s mum.

08:49

FRIDA UMUHOZA: "Munyaburanga?"

MAMA CITRON: "Yeah, he killed."

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  She wasn’t an eyewitness, but she’s heard the allegations. 

08:57

MAMA CITRON: We were even neighbours. I worked with his wife before the genocide.

09:09

Ben listens and takes notes

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  Frida’s told that Munyaburanga used to be the headmaster of a local school and that he may have absconded while waiting for his trial in a community court, which later sentenced him to life imprisonment.  I want to learn more about the allegations, so we’re going to Rwanda.

09:13

Ben onto plane

Music

09:33

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:   Pursuing justice for crimes committed by tens of thousands of people hasn’t been straightforward.

09:42

Archival. International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda hearing

JUDGE,: "How do you plead to count one, genocide?"

DEFENDANT: "I plead, “Not guilty.”"

09:50

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  The major players were hunted down and prosecuted at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.  It took two decades to convict 61 people.

09:58

Archival. Crowds of men in jail

In Rwanda, the justice system simply couldn’t cope with tens of thousands of alleged perpetrators held for years without trial in overflowing jails.

10:10

Archival. Foreign Correspondent report. Super:
Foreign Correspondent, 1995
JONATHAN HOLES

JONATHAN HOLMES, Reporter: Over there are lavatories, perhaps two of them, and I’m told there are two more upstairs – that’s for 8,000 people. It’s the most extraordinary scene I’ve ever seen in my life and I hope I never see anything like it again.

10:26

Rwandan village, community court in progress

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  So, it adopted a radically different approach to justice, based on its own system of traditional community courts.

10:39

They were known as gacaca, or grass courts and they emphasised forgiveness and reconciliation as much as justice and punishment.  There were no lawyers – and anyone could speak up for or against the accused,  with frequent interruptions. 

10:52

The verdict was decided by a panel of lay judges elected by their own communities. 

11:17

By the time they concluded in 2012, more than 12,000 gacaca courts had tried over a million cases.  Critics in the west argued it was often rough, and rushed, justice.

11:26

Archival. Foreign Correspondent interview with President. Super:
Foreign Correspondent, 2002

But Rwandan President Paul Kagame doesn’t think much of foreign critics.

11:45

PAUL KAGAME, PRESIDENT OF RWANDA: They don’t care what happens to you, as they didn’t care during the genocide. 

11:50

Super: JENNIFER BYRNE

JENNIFER BYRNE, FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT REPORTER, 2002: So, when someone starts to lecture you on the international standards of justice…

PRESIDENT PAUL KAGAME: I cannot accept a lecture from any of those people.

11:55

Portrait of Kagame

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  Rwanda’s search for justice is complicated by its history – and its president.

12:02

Archival Kagame, 1994 with Tutsi army

PAUL KAGAME ARCHIVE 1994: We’ve been saying if the ceasefire doesn’t have any meaning...

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  In 1994, Paul Kagame was seen as Rwanda’s saviour.

12:10

He commanded the rebel Tutsi army that ended the genocide.  Ever since, Rwanda has been a de facto one-party state ruled by the Rwandan Patriotic Front and its leader. 

12:18

Kagame election

He’s been accused of imposing a so-called victor’s justice – pursuing genocide suspects, while consistently failing to prosecute crimes committed by his own army.

12:40

Bodies after massacre

Tens of thousands of Hutus were also killed by Kagame’s troops in retaliatory attacks,

12:55

Gittoes' photos

such as the infamous Kibeho Massacre in 1995, photographed by Australian artist George Gittoes. 

13:02

Kagame greets Rishi Sunak at 10 Downing Street

Kagame’s government has brought stability and significant economic development to Rwanda.

13:18

Counting votes in Rwanda

MAN: Kagame Paul.  Kagame Paul.  Kagame Paul...

13:26

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  But elections are marred by intimidation and fraud, journalists have been jailed…

13:31

Noel Zihabamwe news interview.
Super: ABC News, 2021

NEW PRESENTER: Do you have any hopes that you will see your brothers alive?

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  ..and dissidents say they’re being pursued, even on the other side of the world.

13:37

NOEL ZIHABAMWE: I don’t think there’s any hope to find them alive.

13:44

Doherty driving past school with Michee to meet Golithi

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  So, we’re treating the allegations against both men in our investigation carefully.

13:48

Local journalist Michee Urinzwenimana is helping with our investigation into the alleged perpetrators believed to be in Australia.

14:01

MICHEE URINZWENIMANA IN CAR:  So, this school is called Hanika – it’s the school where Munyaburanga was headmaster.

BEN DOHERTY IN CAR: This is the school here, these buildings?

14:11

MICHEE URINZWENIMANA: This is the area where Munyaburanga lived. 

14:21

1

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  We’re on our way to meet a woman who once attended Munyaburanga’s school.

MICHEE URINZWENIMANA: Now this is where Golithi family live.

14:35

Ben and Michee greet Golithi

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  Hello, Golithi.  Sorry we are late, to keep you waiting, I apologise. It's nice to see you. How are you?

14:45

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  Marie Golithi Uwisenga was only 12 years old when the killing started. She says 14 members of her family were murdered during the genocide. 

14:55

Golithi and female family members meet with Ben

She’s invited her mother, her aunt and her cousin to talk about the former headmaster. 

15:04

REHEMA: We think of him as someone who was our neighbour, but he became a bad neighbour.

15:20

Ben shows Golithi indictment

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  Golithi recognises many of the names in Munyaburanga’s indictment.

15:25

MARIE GOLITHI UWISENGA: Joseph Gapfizi – my uncle. My brother.  Alphonse Karemera – my brother.  Nkurikiyinka Sitefano - Daddy.  My daddy.

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  This is your father?

15:31

MARIE GOLITHI UWISENGA: Yes. There are others who aren’t here.

15:46

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  Golithi claims Munyaburanga was in charge of the nearby roadblock, and personally led attacks. This isn’t something that’s mentioned in the indictment.

15:49

Golithi interview

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  Can you tell me how Munyuburunga did this? How did he make these people do what he wanted them to do?

15:59

MARIE GOLITHI UWISENGA: Munyaburanga would give orders for who to kill and who to leave.  “Take that one back, we’ll kill them later.”  Or, “Finish this one at once.”  He’d order how to kill, with a gun or club. Munyaburanga even had a gun.

16:05

MICHEE URINZWENIMANA: How do you know this?

MARIE GOLITHI UWISENGA: I knew it because I was one of the people targeted. I’d see it from a distance when I was hiding in the sorghum plantations, although he didn’t see me.

16:19

Chaliroti interview

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  Golithi’s cousin Chaliroti says she also witnessed Munyaburanga giving orders.

16:33

CHALIROTI: Munyaburunga did a lot of harm to us. Once I saw him with my own eyes taking my brother. They struck him on his shoulders and blood spilled out. I was afraid, and I ran away.

16:39

Music

16:56

Ben to women

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  If you could speak with Celestin Munyaburanga, what would you say to him?

17:05

MARIE GOLITHI UWISENGA: What can I tell him? I am afraid of him.

17:14

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  If Munyaburanga was brought back to Rwanda and went before a court, would you be prepared to give evidence against him?

17:19

MARIE GOLITHI UWISENGA: Yes.

17:25

DAPHROSE:  If he comes when we are still living.

17:27

Music

17:33

Driving to meet Manassé

17:38

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  I want to meet one of the perpetrators named in the indictment – a man who was involved in the killing of Golithi’s family.

17:43

Ben and Michee walking with Manassé into forest

MANASSÉ MUSABYIMANA: I want this to be done well.

MICHEE URINZWENIMANA: There’s no problem, no problem.

17:55

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  Manassé Musabyimana says he didn’t see his former headmaster kill anyone, but it was Munyaburanga who recruited him to man the roadblock where most of the killing took place.

18:02

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  OK, we sit here? 

18:15

Ben shows Manassé document

This is a document sent to the Australian government and they say your name here, Manassé…

MANASSÉ MUSABYIMANA: Yes.

18:23

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  And they say that you, with Celestin and other Interahamwe looked for Tutsis. You remember these people?

MANASSÉ MUSABYIMANA: Yes, of course!

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  What do you know about these people?

MANASSÉ MUSABYIMANA: I know all of them.  Yes, all of them.

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  This is Golithi’s family?

18:43

MANASSÉ MUSABYIMANA: Yes, it is.  This is her father, this is her brother, this is her paternal uncle, this is her paternal uncle, this is her brother, this is her brother, this is her paternal uncle.

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  And you participated in killing these people?

18:51

MANASSÉ MUSABYIMANA: They were among the things I confessed to.

19:09

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  Did you personally kill any of these people?

MANASSÉ MUSABYIMANA: No, but I saw it happening.

19:16

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  Manassé says he spent 20 years in prison after being tried in gacaca.

19:23

MANASSÉ MUSABYIMANA: I reported myself, admitted my role and asked for forgiveness because what happened was so bad. It’s something that continues to hurt me.

19:28

Driving shots

Music

19:48

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  Munyaburanga isn’t the only wanted man we’ve come here to investigate.

19:56

Rwanda is seeking another alleged perpetrator in Australia.  And it’s someone Michee has already reported on for a local news outlet.

20:02

Ben and Michee at hotel

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  How did you first find out there was an alleged genocidaire living in Australia?

20:11

Super:
MICHEE URINZWENIMANA
Express News

MICHEE URINZWENIMANA: There's someone living in Australia, Rwandan community in Australia... 

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  Back in 2020 Michee says he got a tip-off about a man called Froduald Rukeshangabo.

20:16

Michee shows photos of Rukeshangabo on laptop

MICHEE URINZWENIMANA: Look, this is my story. Look.  This the photo of him before genocide.  And this is recent one.

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  We’ve obtained even more recent pictures of Rukeshangabo in Australia.

20:27

Rukeshangabo exiting driving instruction car, crossing road

Music

20:41

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  Michee learned that he used to be a district school inspector – another educated and respected man – who's now accused of being involved in several murders in his community during the very first days of the genocide.  In Brisbane, he’s now a driving instructor. We know he emigrated to Australia on a humanitarian visa in 2009, and that he’s well known within Queensland’s small Rwandan community. 

20:46

Driving out of hotel to meet with Reverien Iryaruranga

Like Munyaburanga, we’ve been told Rukeshangabo was convicted in absentia by a gacaca court.

21:16

We want to find out what evidence emerged during his trial.  Reverien Iryaruranga was one of the 5 lay judges known as Inyangamugayo or “persons of integrity” who would decide whether Rukeshangabo was innocent or guilty.  He says he oversaw hundreds of trials;  we want to know what he remembers about Rukeshangabo’s.

21:25

Meeting with Reverien, reading notebook

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  So, this is the testimony from survivors or perpetrators, or who was giving this testimony?

21:52

REVERIEN IRYARURANGA: This was testimony of genocide perpetrators.

22:00

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  These are the original handwritten notes he took as witnesses testified - some of them more than 20 years ago.

22:04

REVERIEN IRYARURANGA: This was an attack that was led by Rukeshangabo.

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  But the notes are incomplete, and Reverien sometimes relies on his memories of the trial.

22:11

Reverien interview

The former lay judge says Rukeshangabo was accused of being involved in six murders during his gacaca trial.  He heard testimony accusing the former school inspector of leading attacks.

22:20

REVERIEN IRYARURANGA: According to the testimony against him, it shows that he was a significant figure.

22:31

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  Did people see him give orders?

22:37

REVERIEN IRYARURANGA: For me, I heard it from other perpetrators who worked with him, when they were confessing.

22:40

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  How many witnesses gave evidence against Rukeshangabo?

22:46

REVERIEN IRYARURANGA: The people who testified against Rukeshangabo... There were around ten.

22:49

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  Did anybody speak in Rukeshangabo’s defence?

22:59

REVERIEN IRYARURANGA: No one, no one spoke in his defence.

23:02

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  Experts say that’s not uncommon for in absentia cases.

23:05

Ben and Michee to meet with Alphonse Hategekimana

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  We’ve tracked down one of the perpetrators who testified against Rukeshangabo… Alphonse Hategekimana was convicted over a murder he says happened on Rukeshangabo’s orders, and sentenced to 7 years in prison.

23:11

Alphonse interview

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  Was it important for you that you took responsibility and accepted what you'd done?

23:37

ALPHONSE HATEGEKIMANA: It was necessary.  Had it not been for the reconciliation… there would still be hatred between us.

23:42

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  Alphonse claims that after the Hutu President was assassinated, Rukeshangabo targeted men he accused of spying for the Tutsi rebels.  Two days later, Alphonse alleges Rukeshangabo led a mob that caught a father and son, Deo and Gilbert, and beat them to death.

23:54

ALPHONSE HATEGEKIMANA: They told us there was another one called Mwuvaneza. They said we have to go look for him, that he was in contact with Tutsi rebels.  When we got there, we found his younger brother and caught him. Rukeshangabo told me to beat him, and I beat him. He was called... He was called Bizimungu.

24:13

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  When you beat Bizimungu, you hit him with your fists or with a stick? How did you beat him?

24:47

ALPHONSE HATEGEKIMANA: It was a piece of wood that had been cut from the eucalyptus plantations. They had cut them that same morning. A big piece of wood. It was not a small stick. I beat him three times with a stick, and Rukeshangabo said that it wasn’t enough. He hit him with the stick and he fell down.

24:54

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  He claims other men in the mob continued to beat Bizimungu.

25:27

ALPHONSE HATEGEKIMANA: He died like that.

MICHEE URINZWENIMANA: He passed away?

ALPHONSE HATEGEKIMANA: Yes, he passed away.

25:31

If the leaders did not participate, a mere citizen would not decide to kill their neighbour.  It’s not fair that he hasn’t been punished.

25:45

Music

26:03

Ben and Michee walk with Yoweri

YOWERI GATARAYIHA: It was in the morning. They found my younger brother here and they killed him over here.

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  Yoweri Gatarayiha was Bizimungu’s older brother. He didn’t witness the killing.

26:12

YOWERI GATARAYIHA: We found his body over there, they’d thrown him in the toilet down there.

26:26

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  How many members of your family died in the genocide?

26:32

YOWERI GATARAYIHA: All of them. In total there were 24.

26:36

Ben shows Yoweri photos of Rukeshangabo

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  Can I show you these photographs; can I ask you, do you know who this man is?

YOWERI GATARAYIHA: This is Rukeshangabo.  For sure. But he’s old.

26:50

Driving shots

Music

27:10

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  After months of negotiation, we’ve finally been granted access to the official court records from Rukeshangabo’s trial in 2007.  The Gacaca Archive is kept in the Ministry of National Unity and Civic Engagement in the capital, Kigali.

27:24

Ben and Michee to Gacaca Archive with Vincent. Super:
VINCENT RWAMUHIZI
Gacaca documentation officer

VINCENT RWAMUHIZI, GACACA DOCUMENTATION OFFICER: So this is one of eight rooms that we have, I’ve told you we have more than eight rooms of archive.  So this… we have nine districts in this room, including Ngoma.  So we are looking for Rukeshangabo case, which will be around here.  Yeah, this is the box.

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  This one?  Rukeshangabo’s file is in here?  We can take it down?

VINCENT RWAMUHIZI: You can take it down. It’s very heavy.

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  Oh yeah, very heavy.

27:44

Ben and Michee search through files

OK. Alright, so the case could be in any of these files.

VINCENT RWAMUHIZI: Any of these books, yes. We have to go through all the books.

MICHEE URINZWENIMANA: So we search.

VINCENT RWAMUHIZI: You search.  We read, you’ll be looking for the name, Rukeshangabo Froduald, yes.

28:26

MICHEE URINZWENIMANA: It’s not easy.

VINCENT RWAMUHIZI: It’s not easy.

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  I can see why this would take a long time. 

28:39

Music

28:45

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  I feel like the yellow ones were early. 

28:58

Music

29:00

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  Where are you?  Where are you?

29:04

Music

29:08

Ben to camera

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  You get a very strong sense of the history, of a first draft of history, reading through these books. And somewhere in these pages, somewhere in this box is the record of the alleged activities of a man who now lives in suburban Brisbane.

29:14

Siting through files continues

Music

29:32

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  We are going well, we’ve found… Yeah, yeah.  We just haven’t found… Rukeshangabo!! 

MICHEE: Oh, we find it!

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter: There he is – Rukeshangabo, Froduald, born in 1956. Extraordinary. Vincent, we have found him.

29:37

Ben shows book to Vincent

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  I’d been warned not to expect anything that reads like an Australian court transcript. It’s not always a complete record of a trial – and the evidence often emerges over several years and across different trials.

30:01

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  This is a witness, giving their statement.

VINCENT: Yes, they give their statement.

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  In the two pages we find about Rukeshangabo, I don’t see any mention of Alphonse, or Bizimungu, the man he says Rukeshangabo ordered him to attack. But many of the names we’ve been told about are here, including Deo and Gilbert, the father and son allegedly killed before Bizimungu.

30:13

MICHEE URINZWENIMANA:  And here’s Reverien, the one who talked to us.

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  Ah, here’s Reverien.

30:34

We can’t find any reference to Rukeshangabo leading the genocide in his community.   But at least 10 alleged victims are listed here – several more than the former lay judge mentioned. We’re still looking for the verdict... Here we go.

30:40

Vincent reads judgment from file

VINCENT RWAMUHIZI: We got it.

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  You got it.

VINCENT RWAMUHIZI: Yes.  Got the judgment.

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  What does the judgement say?

VINCENT RWAMUHIZI: They say that after the sitting, after the bench sitting, they found that Rukeshangabo was guilty and have sentenced him 30 years of imprisonment.

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  30 years?

VINCENT RWAMUHIZI: Yeah, we are done.

30:58

Music

31:22

GFX Text of judgment

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  In November 2007, Froduald Rukeshangabo was found guilty in the Gacaca court of: “Being well known for murder; dragging dead bodies and burning them.” The conviction does not record which deaths he was held responsible for.

31:25

Ben takes photo of judgment

Rwandan prosecutors say that anyone already convicted in gacaca will be entitled to a fresh trial if they’re extradited.

31:42

Vincent returns box to archive

Music

31:50

Driving into NPPA

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  Rwanda’s National Public Prosecution Authority says it has pursued more than 1100 genocide suspects across 33 countries. What have they done about the two Rwandans we’re investigating?

32:01

Siboyintore greets Ben

JOHN BOSCO SIBOYINTORE, NATIONAL PUBLIC PROSECUTION AUTHORITY: Yes hello?

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  Mr Sibyintore, thanks so much for finding the time to meet with me today.  Much appreciated. Thank you very much.

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  Prosecutor John Bosco Siboyintore has led Rwanda’s Genocide Fugitive Tracking Unit for more than a decade.

32:17

Siboyintore and Ben stand at window

I ask him about Celestin Munyaburanga, whose indictment for at least 21 alleged murders was sent to Australia in 2017.

32:29

Siboyintore interview. Super:
JOHN BOSCO SIBOYINTORE
National Public Prosecution Authority

JOHN BOSCO SIBOYINTORE: We invite the Australian police together with the prosecution to come to Rwanda, because it's where the crime scene is located. It's where witnesses will be found.  This is an issue of an international nature, this is genocide.

32:39

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  What ultimately happened in his gacaca court trial?

32:58

JOHN BOSCO SIBOYINTORE: His case was tried in his absence, and he was actually on 13th of May, 2008, he was convicted to life imprisonment by the court of Busasamana. We have identified another fugitive in Australia in the name of Froduald Rukeshangabo and we did our thorough investigations. We came up with the decision of indicting him.

33:01

Rukeshangabo getting out of car and walking to bus shelter

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  Four Corners has confirmed that an indictment for Rukeshangabo was received by the Australian government in January – we haven’t seen it.

JOHN BOSCO SIBOYINTORE:  We will leave no stone unturned until justice is done.

33:38

Siboyintore interview

When a country is not prosecuting a genocide case, when it has been asked to do so, it should know that it's giving safe haven to other perpetrators to come and enjoy that safe haven.  It beats every sensible person's understanding, and they need to face the law.

33:58

Ben making highlighting document

Music

34:25

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  But President Kagame has been accused of using the search for genocide suspects to attack his political enemies abroad. 

34:29

Ben to camera

We’ve learned of two Rwandan men living in New Zealand – both significant political players in the pre-genocide regime – who've been accused of crimes by Rwandan prosecutors.  But according to documents we’ve seen, when authorities in NZ investigated, they found there was no case to answer. 

34:38

Foggy London view. Ben walking across bridge

Music

35:00

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter: Before I head back to find out what the Australian government knows about these cases, there are a couple of people I want to meet here in London.

35:05

Phil Clark interview

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  Has the Rwandan government politicised, even weaponized allegations of genocide, to pursue political enemies?

35:16

Super:
PROF. PHIL CLARK
School of Oriental and African Studies

PROF. PHIL CLARK: The fact that we've also seen Rwandan government assassinations of political opponents abroad, the sometimes-violent infiltration of diaspora communities, that activity alongside the pursuit of genocide fugitives, I think raises all sorts of concerns about the justice process. And actually, I tend to think that the justice process is quite robust. I think the genocide fugitive tracking unit tends to act more often than not when it has pretty robust evidentiary reasons to pursue certain suspects.

35:23

Phil Clark, Nicola Palmer and Ben

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  Australian Dr Phil Clark is a professor of international politics and has spent two decades studying the gacaca courts. His wife, Dr Nicola Palmer, teaches international criminal law and tracks the Rwandan government’s pursuit of genocide suspects around the globe.

35:57

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  How robust are these trials from a legal point of view?

36:13

Super: DR NICOLA PALMER
King's College London

DR NICOLA PALMER: I think the information that they provide is as robust as any other testimony. If you spoke in gacaca, you spoke under your own name, you were immediately recognised, and so you really had to be able to defend what it was that you said.

36:18

Gacaca in progress

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  But critics, including Human Rights Watch, have argued that a fair trial wasn’t guaranteed at gacaca. They focus on the lack of legal representation for the accused, the potential for corruption and the use of hearsay evidence.

36:32

PROF PHIL CLARK: I think one of the interesting things here is that international lawyers and international human rights groups hated gacaca at the outset.

36:50

Phil Clark

And yet, almost every international trial that relates to Rwandan genocide cases has ended up using gacaca evidence.  This was a system that tested evidence that led to a 30% acquittal rate, that was in some ways often heavily skewed towards the genocide suspect, because most of the judges in question were Hutu.

36:59

Even in those in absentia cases it didn't guarantee that these individuals would be found guilty. In fact, we have plenty of evidence to suggest it was possible to defend yourself even from a distance.

37:23

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  Australia's received one indictment from the Rwandan government. It may receive more in the future. How should countries like Australia respond to those indictments?

37:34

PROF. PHIL CLARK: My own sense is that extradition is the best response in these cases, if there is sufficient prima facie evidence to suggest that a trial is necessary. But if that is not possible for all sorts of reasons, then I think it's the responsibility of those host countries, like Australia, to find a way to deal with these cases through their own courts.

37:45

Nicola Palmer

DR NICOLA PALMER: I think one has to be cautious, as we've said, around the evidence that is initially presented in the indictment. But I do think it prompts and warrants further investigation.

38:08

Gacaca in progress

PROF PHIL CLARK:  If you were a poor peasant farmer accused of genocide crimes on the Rwandan hills, you got prosecuted through gacaca. But there's been a completely different process for those who were wealthy enough to escape the country. Most of them have avoided scrutiny completely.

38:27

Phil Clark

Many of these individuals undoubtedly are innocent, but they should have their day in court and they should have to answer for the accusations against them just as genocide suspects who were caught inside Rwanda had to do so in front of gacaca.

38:42

Music

38:54

Ben making phone call to Rukeshangabo

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter: We first reached out to Froduald Rukeshangabo back in November.

FRODUALD RUKESHANGABO: Hello.

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  Ah, good afternoon.  Is that Froduald Rukeshangabo speaking?

FRODUALD RUKESHANGABO: This is Froduald, how are you?

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  Mr Rukeshangabo, my name is Ben Doherty…

39:08

The allegations have been around since articles first appeared online a few years ago, dismissed by some in the diaspora as politically motivated.   Australia’s small Rwandan community is deeply divided.

39:23

FRODUALD RUKESHANGABO: What is your position in this matter?

39:36

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  Mr Rukeshangabo, I don’t have a position in this matter, I’m making no judgements about this, but these are very serious matters, and I wanted to put those to you if that was possible… Mr Rukeshangabo are you there?

39:39

He’s hung up.

Last month, after our visit to Rwanda, we sent him a detailed list of the allegations against him and repeated our request for an interview.

40:00

Rukeshangabo walking. On screen text:  I respectfully decline to participate in interview and the process / project.

He replied: “I respectfully decline to participate in interview and the process / project.”

40:12

On screen text: I am aware of false allegations and smear campaigns that have been aimed at myself, my family, and the extensive Rwandan refugee community over the past few years.”

In an earlier message he said:  “I am aware of false allegations and smear campaigns that have been aimed at myself, my family, and the extensive Rwandan refugee community over the past few years.”

40:20

Dunja and Ben look at timeline

DUNJA KARAGIC, FOUR CORNERS RESEARCHER: So, I’ve put together this timeline on Rukeshangabo…

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:   We’re not making any assumptions about the truth of these allegations, but how did someone accused of genocide in Rwanda manage to become an Australian citizen?  My colleague Dunja Karagic has been looking into the effectiveness of our screening.

40:34

DUNJA KARAGIC:  OK, so his conviction happens in 2007.  In 2009 he arrives in Australia, but from what you’ve been told it’s very likely that Australian authorities just didn’t have any information about his conviction.

40:51

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  But Rwandan prosecutors have shown us a list, a gacaca fugitives database that has his name on it and that was accessible from 2012.  That’s two years before he becomes a citizen ...

41:03

DUNJA KARAGIC: Yeah, so in theory his name should have been on the central Movement Alert List, that list used by immigration authorities to flag people of suspicion from entering the country or from getting citizenship.

41:14

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  So why wasn’t he picked up on that list then?

41:24

DUNJA KARAGIC: I mean we don’t know for certain if he was or he wasn’t but I’ve spoken to several former immigration staff who’ve raised problems with this list.

41:26

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  And they’re saying people just slipped through the net?

DUNJA KARAGIC:  Sometimes, yeah.

41:33

Music

41:39

Ben to visit Graham Blewitt

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  The man I’m going to meet knows that in the past, suspected war criminals from conflicts such as the Balkans, Sri Lanka and Cambodia, have found sanctuary in Australia. 

41:41

Blewitt at computer

Graham Blewitt was the Deputy Prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. But before that, he ran the Special Investigations Unit, established in 1987 to investigate the presence of alleged Nazi war criminals in Australia.

41:57

Archival. ABC News report on war crime investigations. Super:
1994

NEWSREADER:  The final chapter today, in Australia’s war crime investigations. Conducted over seven years, at a cost of 17 million dollars, not one conviction was secured.

42:14

ABC 7:30 REPORT ARCHIVE, 1994: Well you put seven years of your life into this, Mr Blewitt -

GRAHAM BLEWITT ON 7:30 REPORT: Well, it’s been a long road. I’m very disappointed the cases ended the way they did.

42:28

Ben greets Blewitt

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  Hello Graham, Ben Doherty.

42:41

Blewitt interview. Super:
GRAHAM BLEWITT
Former war crimes prosecutor

GRAHAM BLEWITT, FORMER WAR CRIMES  PROSECUTOR:  Australia has no permanent investigations unit, and that's why these allegations that there are war criminals living in Australia are not attended to.

42:51

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  Graham points out that countries like the United States, Canada and Great Britain do have permanent war crimes investigations units.

43:02

GRAHAM BLEWITT:  And if allegations arise within their country, then they are able to investigate and bring prosecutions, and these are happening.

43:10

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  You've seen these allegations made against two men believed to be living in Australia. What do you make of these two cases?

GRAHAM BLEWITT: Just looking at the material, the allegations are certainly serious.

43:22

And I believe the Australian government should do something about it. We should be part of this team, international team, bringing war criminals to justice.

43:33

Music

43:43

GFX:
MARK DREYFUS
Attorney-General
The Australian government is committed to tackling serious international crimes and takes allegations of genocide very seriously.

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  The Attorney General declined our interview request, but a spokesperson said:  “The Australian government is committed to tackling serious international crimes and takes allegations of genocide very seriously.”

43:47

GFX:
CLARE O'NEIL
Minister for Home Affairs
As is long-standing practice, we do not comment on individual cases.

And a spokesperson for the Home Affairs minister said: “As is long-standing practice, we do not comment on individual cases.”

Frida in kitchen preparing vegetables

FRIDA UMUHOZA, GENOCIDE SURVIVOR: I’m still the same person in the first bit of the film with no hair, and now I just bought hair!  It’s the way it works.  You wake up in the morning you’ve got big hair.

44:09

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  Frida Umuhoza understands how important justice is to survivors. It’s why she’s been helping us look into Celestin Munyaburanga, the alleged killer from her hometown.

44:30

Frida on phone to Ben

FRIDA UMUHOZA: Hello?

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  Ah hello, Frida, it’s Ben Doherty calling.

FRIDA UMUHOZA: Oh hi Ben, how are you?

44:49

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  For months we’ve been searching for traces of Munyaburanga in Australia, but I’m afraid we’ve reached a dead end.

44:57

I think you know we identified a house in Queensland where his family lives, there’s also a man who’s about the right age who was seen at the house… But we don’t know for sure, we can’t confirm that it’s him. But we just don't know, and I'm not sure we'll ever know for sure.

45:04

FRIDA UMUHOZA: It is , but at the same time it’s not surprising to me.  It’s even like, the guy who killed my father, I don’t really know where he lives, I really don’t. Nobody knows where he is.  

45:21

BEN DOHERTY, Reporter:  It’s 30 years since the genocide against the Tutsi. It’s still really important to you that they are held to account.

45:36

FRIDA UMUHOZA: I think it doesn’t matter what age you are.  Because a lot of survivors still living with their scars and wounds. 

45:45

Golithi family members

We’re all connected, we’re all of us are connected and what the other person felt, we all felt.   Genocide is not a crime that grows old.

45:54

Music

46:07

Credits [see below]

46:18

Outpoint

46:41