Authorities in South Africa on Monday issued an arrest warrant for two of the four alleged murderers of an exiled Rwandan ex-spy and critic of President Paul Kagame who was killed in a Johannesburg hotel in 2014.
South Africa’s National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) is also applying for the extradition of two other suspects of Rwandan descent, advocate Gerrie Nel, the family lawyer, said in a statement.
If granted, the NPA will apply to Interpol to issue “Red Notices” for the suspects, Nel added.
The only feasible conclusion is that the NPA wanted to avoid a prosecution.
Former spy Patrick Karegeya, 53, was found strangled in his room in the luxury Michelangelo hotel on January 1, 2014. An autopsy determined he had died the day before.
All four suspects are on the run and their whereabouts unknown.
Too little, too late?
Nel on Monday hailed the move to issue the arrest warrants as a “big victory” but slammed the NPA for delays.
“The only feasible conclusion is that the NPA wanted to avoid a prosecution. We welcome the current steps and hope that the NPA will continue with the process keenly,” he said.
According to his family’s legal team, an inquest launched in January 2019 revealed that the NPA could have started to take steps to prosecute on the grounds of the evidence at their disposal in 2014.
Documents from that January hearing showed South Africa’s prosecuting authority had also found “links” between the suspects and Kagame’s regime.
But critics say the prosecution had refused to prosecute to avoid diplomatic tensions with Kagame.
