A DUTCH court yesterday okayed the European state to extradite two Rwandans suspected of participating in the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.

The extradition hearing against Jean Claude Iyamuremye and Jean Baptiste Mugimba, two indicted suspects on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity, has been going on for some time.

Kigali is particularly happy as the court had previously prohibited the extradition. After an appeal, the court finally came to another verdict.

Justice minister Johnston Busingye said it is another important development in the struggle to bring Genocide suspects to account, given that a lower Court had declined the extradition.

Busingye added: "It is a message that suspects can run but they won’t hide. It is also a timely rebuke to suspects who resort to blackmail around the quality of justice in Rwanda, aiming to evade justice. Our judicial system is as good as any.

"Finally, it is a reminder that genocide is a crime against humanity and every country where one genocide suspect shelters has a legal and moral duty, to humanity, to ensure that justice is done.”

The two men have been living with their families in the Netherlands.

The Court in The Hague ruled yesterday on appeal that the defendants are allowed to be extradited to Rwanda because, in general, it is preferable that suspects be judged in the country where the Genocide took place.

‘No good argument’

The court considered that there is no good argument for the fear that the suspects will not be able to have appropriate legal advice from a lawyer in Rwanda.

There is a list drawn up of 68 Rwandan attorneys who are willing and able to provide the defence of Genocide suspects against the compensation provided by the Rwandan authorities for defendants who cannot afford their own lawyer. The suspects are able to make a choice out of this list.

In the past, the Dutch prosecution filed a case against the duo, requesting the Netherlands to extradite them to Rwanda for their alleged role in the Genocide.

One of them, Iyamuremye, is alleged to have had a hand in the killing of the Tutsi who had fled to ETO-Kicukiro.

During the Genocide, the other, Mugimba, was the National Secretary of CDR political party widely condemned for being actively involved in mass killings of the Tutsi.

Genocide denier, revisionist lawyer

Early last month, during their extradition hearing, Iyamuremye’s lawyer, Caroline Buisman, shocked many when she told the district court at The Hague that the commemoration of the Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda is a manipulation by the government in Rwanda.

At the time, Dr Jean-Damascène Bizimana, executive secretary of the National Commission for the Fight against Genocide (CNLG) indicated that he was not surprised as those are the kinds of "unpardonable” remarks made, every year, by Genocide deniers and revisionists intent on destroying the spirit of those who survived the Genocide.

The Rwandan embassy at The Hague then issued a statement, describing it as "very sad” to hear a learned lawyer calling commemorations and remembrance of the victims of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi a manipulation by government.

According to the embassy, Buisman used the platform as a revenge ground because in May she was asked to leave Rwandan territory after she lied to immigration authorities to gain entry into Rwanda.

Buisman arrived in Rwanda on May 9 using an East Africa Tourist Visa obtained in Kenya. Soon after, however, she would be found attempting to act as a lawyer for the imprisoned Victoire Ingabire. 

In 2013, the Supreme Court sentenced Ingabire to 15 years for inciting the masses to revolt against the government, forming armed groups to destabilise the country, and minimising the 1994 Genocide. 

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