Niamey, Niger — Protais Zigiranyirazo, a central figure in Rwanda’s notorious Akazu clan and accused architect of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, has died in Niger at the age of 87. Once one of Rwanda’s most feared men, “Mr. Z” spent his final years under police surveillance, stateless and far from the lush hills of his birthplace.
Zigiranyirazo rose to prominence in the 1970s after his brother-in-law, Juvénal Habyarimana, seized power in a military coup. As prefect of the strategic Ruhengeri region, he was accused of turning it into a “state within a state,” overseeing corruption, trafficking, and later, ethnic violence. His feared influence extended deep into the Akazu—a shadowy circle of family and allies accused of masterminding the genocide.
During the genocide, witnesses alleged that Zigiranyirazo coordinated massacres, distributed weapons, and set up roadblocks to target Tutsis. Although the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda initially sentenced him to 30 years in prison, he was acquitted on appeal in 2009 due to procedural errors. The verdict outraged survivors’ groups, which viewed it as a miscarriage of justice.
His notoriety also extended beyond Rwanda. In 1985, American primatologist Dian Fossey was murdered near Ruhengeri after accusing the prefect of involvement in the illegal gorilla trade. The crime was never solved, but the case was dramatized in the Hollywood film Gorillas in the Mist.
After fleeing Rwanda in 1994, Zigiranyirazo lived in Canada before being expelled for threatening Tutsis. He was later arrested in Belgium and handed over to the UN tribunal in Arusha, Tanzania. Following his acquittal, no country would accept him, and he lived under UN protection until Niger reluctantly took him in alongside other acquitted figures in 2021.
Confined to a monitored residence in Niamey’s Dar es-Salaam neighborhood, Zigiranyirazo died far from the destroyed villa that once symbolized his genocide ideology. While the house is gone, the shadow of his terrible legacy continues to loom over Rwanda’s painful history.
