The former army officer who was arrested on 11th May 2022, has been living in the Netherlands since 1998. Rwanda had requested his extradition for his involvement in the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda.

In 1994, the man was an officer of the gendarmerie in Rwanda. It is said that he played a prominent role in the killings of Tutsis in Kigali and Mugina in Kamonyi District.

Karangwa is suspected for involvement in the planning and execution of Tutsi killings in Mugina, including by supplying weapons to militias that killed Tutsis.

The man and his accomplices are also said to have led some 80 Tutsis that had managed to escape the killings at a parish in the area to a house that was subsequently set on fire. The man is said to have supplied the fuel.

Sources reveal that the man had chaired a meeting calling for Tutsi civilians to be attacked and killed. He is also alleged to have played a part in the assassination of the mayor of Mugina.

Karangwa received an asylum status in the Netherlands in 1999. Because of his suspected involvement in the Genocide, the Dutch Immigration and Naturalisation Department (IND) decided in 2013 to revoke his Dutch citizenship, which he had been granted in 2002.

This decision was challenged in court. On 11th May 2022, the Dutch Council of State dismissed the appeal against the revocation of his Dutch citizenship on its merits, thereby removing any impediment to his arrest and ultimate extradition to Rwanda.

Upon his arrest, it was agreed that the suspect will be brought before the examining magistrate in The Hague on Friday 13th May 2022.

Genocide suspect , Maj Pierre Claver Karangwa has been arrested in the Netherlands.