Friday, February 20, 2009

Finland not to extradite genocide suspect to Rwanda

By DPA
Fri, 20 Feb 2009

Helsinki - Finland said Friday it would not extradite a Rwandan man to the Central African nation where he is suspected of genocide among other crimes. Rwanda applied for the extradition in April 2008, a year after the man was remanded in custody in Finland on suspicion of crimes against humanity during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.

The Finnish Justice Ministry said its decision was based on decisions last year by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda not to refer three pending cases to Rwandan courts, citing that the Tanzania-based tribunal "was not satisfied that the defendants would receive a fair trial in Rwanda."

The ministry statement said Germany and France have also turned down extradition requests on similar grounds.

The man, who was not identified by the ministry, may still face legal proceedings in Finland.

Finnish media identified him as Francois Bazaramba, and said he was a pastor in the Rwandan Baptist Church who allegedly had incited attacks on Tutsis in Nyakizu, southern Rwanda.

The 1994 Rwanda genocide is estimated to have claimed the lives of 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus.

Source:
The Earth Times

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home