Former senior officer of the defeated Rwandan Armed Forces (ex-FAR), Maj. Bernard Ntuyahaga has been discharged Tuesday after completing a three-month course in civic education and entrepreneurship for ex-combatants, the Rwanda Demobilization and Reintegration Commission (RDRC) confirmed on Wednesday.
Maj. Ntuyahaga who was deported recently from Belgium to Rwanda after the rejection of his asylum request is among the former combatants who received award certificates at Mutobo Demobilization and Reintegration Centre in Musanze, a district in Northern Rwanda,.
Before his deportation to Rwanda, Maj. Ntuyahaga was convicted by a Belgian court for the murders of ten United Nations peacekeepers (MINUAR) who protected Prime Minister Agathe Uwiringiyimana at the start of the Rwandan Genocide before he was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
He was released in 2018 and went to seek asylum in Belgium, but his asylum application has caused fury among many Belgians because the former Rwandan senior military officer was convicted of murdering Belgian soldiers.
Before his asylum application was rejected by Belgium authorities, Ntuyahaga also wanted to go to Denmark where his family live.
In 1999, the prosecution at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda dropped charges against Maj. Ntuyahaga with a view to having him handed over for trial in Belgium. He was rearrested by Tanzanian police shortly after his release.
CU/abj/APA