KIGALI - A former Rwandan Ambassador to Canada, Maximin Segasayo, has been denied refugee status by Canada’s federal court on grounds of violating human and international rights.

Segasayo, who served in the early 1990s, was initially granted refugee status with his family in 1996 and settled in Montreal.

According to AFP news agency, in rejecting Segasayo’s bid for a judicial review of the case, Federal Court Judge Sean Harrington said Canada’s Immigration Division of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Board "had found him inadmissible to Canada on grounds of violating human or international rights.”

Segasayo "was therefore not entitled to a hearing where he could present evidence that he did not participate in the war crimes and genocide committed by the Rwandan governments he represented.”

The Canadian judge added that it was premature for a review of the case, as Segasayo still has several options available to him to try to avoid deportation.

The former diplomat had previously sought a ministerial exemption, claiming "he was in no way complicit in the atrocities of the Rwandan governments, and had no influence over them,” according to court documents.

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