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Congolese war crimes suspect living openly in Germany

DDP/The Local
DDP/The Local - [email protected]
Congolese war crimes suspect living openly in Germany
Congolese refugees flee violence this week. Photo: DPA

A Congolese war criminal wanted by Interpol has been living openly in Germany, ARD news show Fakt reported on Monday. Politicians told the show that allowing him to stay would be a scandal as violence in the African hot spot intensifies.

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The 45-year-old man, Ignace Murwanashyaka, is the president of the militant group Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, a Hutu rebel group that operates in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Fakt reported.

He is wanted for war crimes, including crimes against humanity, genocide, terrorism, and mass rape, Interpol reports.

“That the president of a clearly terrorist organization has lived here for years is a disgrace on the country,” Green party security expert, Winfried Nachtwei, told the show.

New violence has been rumbling in bush fights with rebels in the unstable country this week, despite a large deployment of United Nations troops. “I am the president of this organization,” Murwanashyaka, who lives in Mannheim, told the show. “I know exactly what is going on.”

He was arrested in Mannheim in 2006 for immigration violations, at which point the country opened an investigation into his war crimes involvement. But no action has since been taken, a spokesperson for the high court in Karlsruhe told news agency DDP, adding it was difficult in such cases to collect evidence.

“We make ourselves untrustworthy if we don’t take definitive action against such people,” Social Democratic MP Walter Riester told the show.

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