NPA issue warrants for two suspects in Rwandan spy killing

The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) have issued warrants of arrest for two suspects in the murder case of former Rwandan spy Patrick Karegeya.

The former spy chief was found strangled in his room in the luxury Michelangelo hotel on 1 January 2014. An autopsy determined he had died the day before.

NPA Slammed for delays

Karegeya was advising South African and Tanzanian intelligence as they prepared to send troops to the Democratic Republic of Congo to battle the Rwandan-backed rebel group M23.

“South African authorities have 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,” the family lawyer said Monday.

“South Africa’s National Prosecuting Authority is also applying for the extradition of two other suspects of Rwandan descent,” advocate Gerrie Nel said in a statement.

“If granted, the NPA will apply to Interpol to issue “Red Notices” for the suspects,” Nel said in a statement.

All four suspects are on the run and their whereabouts are currently unknown.

On Monday, advocate 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.

Under Kagame‘s regime, Karegeya took charge of foreign intelligence services for a decade, until he fell into disgrace.

Falling out of favour

He was jailed in 2005 and 2006, and in 2007 went into exile, heading for South Africa on the heels of former army chief of staff, Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa.

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, who has been in office since 2000.

Once in South Africa, Karegeya became a fierce critic of Kagame. He branded the Rwandan leader a dictator and alleged having first-hand knowledge of the state killing of dissidents abroad. He would help to set up an opposition movement, the Rwandan National Congress from South Africa.

The Rwandan government has denied any involvement or wrongdoing but Kagame’s comments at the time suggested he may have been involved.

According to Human Rights Watch (HRW) many other former supporters of Paul Kagame have been the targets of attacks and threats in recent years.

Former general Nyamwasa, another Kagame opponent, survived two assassination attempts in June 2010 in South Africa in what Pretoria described as an attack by foreign security operatives.