Protais Zigiranyirazo

Who is Protais Zigiranyirazo?

Protais Zigiranyirazo commonly known as Monsieur Zed, is a Rwandan businessman and politician. He is the former governor of Ruhengeri prefecture in northwestern Rwanda. He has also been accused of collaborating in the 1994 Rwandan genocide and the 1985 murder of Dian Fossey.

Between 1974 and 1989 Zigiranyirazo served as governor of Ruhengeri. An ethnic Hutu, he was well-connected to the Hutu establishment of politicians, businessmen and military officers which then controlled Rwanda: he is the brother of Agathe Kanziga, wife of the late Rwandan president Juvénal Habyarimana, whose assassination on 6 April 1994 precipitated the events leading to the genocide.

In 1989 he resigned his position as prefect to study at the Université du Québec à Montréal in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He was expelled from UQAM and from Canada in 1993 after being convicted of uttering death threats against two Tutsi refugees in Montreal, who "accused him of participating in the planning of ethnic massacres."