Ex-Rwandan diplomat, found living in Alabama after leaving UN post, probed in 1994 genocide

Ex-Rwandan diplomat now in Ala. probed in genocide

OPELIKA, Ala. — A former United Nations diplomat living in Alabama is being investigated by his native Rwanda for actions during the genocide that claimed 800,000 lives in 1994.

Jean-Damascene Bizimana was the Rwandan ambassador to the United Nations and spoke for the government during the mass killings 16 years ago. Today, he is a U.S. citizen living with his family in the east Alabama city of Opelika.

He told The Associated Press in an interview Thursday that he is innocent of any complicity in the mass killings of Tutsis. But the current Rwandan government is considering whether to charge Bizimana with genocide crimes.

A spokesman for the prosecutor’s office there says Bizimana never denounced the slaughter by Hutus while representing Rwanda before the U.N. Security Council.