Édouard Karemera is a former Rwanda

Rwanda

Rwanda or , officially the Republic of Rwanda , is a country in central and eastern Africa with a population of approximately 11.4 million . Rwanda is located a few degrees south of the Equator, and is bordered by Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo...

n politician. He is chiefly known for his alleged role in the Rwandan Genocide

Rwandan Genocide

The Rwandan Genocide was the 1994 mass murder of an estimated 800,000 people in the small East African nation of Rwanda. Over the course of approximately 100 days through mid-July, over 500,000 people were killed, according to a Human Rights Watch estimate...

.

Born in Mabanza commune, Kibuya préfecture, Rwanda, of Hutu

Hutu

The Hutu , or Abahutu, are a Central African people, living mainly in Rwanda, Burundi, and eastern DR Congo.-Population statistics:The Hutu are the largest of the three peoples in Burundi and Rwanda; according to the United States Central Intelligence Agency, 84% of Rwandans and 85% of Burundians...

 ethnicity, Karemana held the position of Minister of Institutional Relations in the government of Juvénal Habyarimana

Juvénal Habyarimana

Juvénal Habyarimana was the third President of the Republic of Rwanda, the post he held longer than any other president to date, from 1973 until 1994. During his 20-year rule he favored his own ethnic group, the Hutus, and supported the Hutu majority in neighboring Burundi against the Tutsi...

 of May 1987.

After Habyarimana's assassination, he became Minister of the Interior in the interim government of Jean Kambanda

Jean Kambanda

Jean Kambanda was the Prime Minister in the caretaker government of Rwanda from the start of the 1994 Rwandan Genocide...

 until mid-July 1994. From July 1993 he was also Vice-Chairman of the MRND

Mouvement républicain national pour la démocratie et le développement

National Republican Movement for Democracy and Development was the ruling political party of Rwanda from 1975 to 1994 under President Juvénal Habyarimana. It was dominated by Hutus, particularly from President Habyarimana's home region of Northern Rwanda...

 party.

Karemera fled Rwanda after its conquest by the RPF

Rwandan Patriotic Front

The Rwandan Patriotic Front abbreviated as RPF is the current ruling political party of Rwanda, led by President Paul Kagame. It governs in a coalition with other parties...

 army. On 5 June 1998, he was arrested at his home in Lomé, Togo. His initial trial before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda

International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda

The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda is an international court established in November 1994 by the United Nations Security Council in Resolution 955 in order to judge people responsible for the Rwandan Genocide and other serious violations of international law in Rwanda, or by Rwandan...

 was suspended after the judge Andresia Vaz resigned. He new trial began on September 19, 2005.