France turns down Rwanda extradition request
We all remember the Rwandan genocide against the Tutsi in 1994. A few days after Rwanda and France had a standoff over the role of the latter in the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, France has turned down the extradition request of a Genocide suspect accused of Genocide crimes.
A court in Aix-en-Prevence turned down the extradition of Pierre Tegera, who is accused for killing 349 people during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda! Citing a ruling by a higher court, (Cour de Cassation), February 2014, the court said extradition ruling could not be passed on the basis of laws passed after the alleged offences were committed.
This comes as a twist in France’s position on collaborating with Rwanda to bring to justice some of the suspects who are roaming freely in the French cities. At the beginning of this year 2014, France tried and sentenced two major suspects who included Capt. Pascal Simbikangwa, sentenced to 25 years in prison, and Charles Twagira whose case was the second following a landmark trial of captain Pascal Simbikangwa.
Tegera’s case may shock Rwandans, especially after Rwanda’s Justice Minister, Johnston Busingye called for cooperation in arresting and bringing the suspects to justice; saying that Rwanda will not rest but continue searching for suspect with the support of everyone.
According to Richard Muhumuza, the Rwanda Prosecutor General, the latest decision was disappointing but not surprising since it is one of many extradition requests involving Genocide suspects that the French courts have turned down.
Rwanda has now called upon France to face up to the difficult truth of its role in the 1994 Rwanda genocide against the Tutsi, sparking off a diplomatic spat ahead of commemorations marking the 20th anniversary of the killings.
Some of the French cases include – Pascal Simbikangwa, a former Rwandan intelligence officer, Father Wenceslas Munyeshyaka, who is practicing in the Gisors parish of northern France, plus the awaited ruling on the extradition appeal to Rwanda of two men of Rwandan origin- Claude Muhayimana and Innocent Musabyimana.
In 2011, The French Supreme court turned down the request to extradite key Genocide suspect Dominique Ntawukuriryayo to the Tanzania-based International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). While in September 2011, a Paris Appeals court ordered the release of Wenceslas Munyeshyaka, a Catholic priest, and Laurent Bucyibaruta, a former government official and the rejected the extradition of Agathe Habyarimana, widow of ex-President Juvenal Habyarimana, whose are known of having spearheaded the 1994 Genocide.
