Canada deports Genocide suspect

Henri Jean-Claude Seyoboka’s 20-year run from justice finally came to an end after Canada deported him to face the law for his role in the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. The National Public Prosecution Authority (NPPA) yesterday welcomed the latest decision by Canadian authorities. Seyoboka, 50, is the second Genocide suspect to be deported by Canada, after Dr Leon Mugesera in 2012. Upon landing at the Kigali International Airport aboard Ethiopian Airlines shortly before 1 a.m., early Friday Morning, Seyoboka was handed over to Rwandan Police. He was dressed in black jacket, cream t-shirt and kakhi pants. During the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, Seyoboka was a second lieutenant in the genocidal army (Ex-FAR) and lived in the Kiyovu area in Nyarugenge District, according to prosecution. According to a statement issued by NPPA, the suspect, fled the country in 1994 after committing Genocide and crimes against humanity. He had lived in Canada since 1995 and his role in the Genocide against the Tutsi came to the fore in a trial by the now disbanded International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, when he was interviewed as a witness in a Genocide case. It is during this time that his military background, which he had not disclosed to Canadian immigration authorities, came to their attention. “Jean Claude Seyoboka will be tried for Genocide, extermination and murder as crimes against humanity that took place in Nyarugenge-Kigali City, where he participated in meetings that planned killings,” reads part of the NPPA statement. Prosecution notes that the suspect participated in extermination of more than 72 Tutsis who had sought refuge at a former African languages school in Kigali (CELA), and personally murdered – by shooting – the Tutsi in various places in the then Rugenge sector of Kigali. He is also reported to have supervised killings in cohorts with other convicted militia leaders, including the former prefet of Kigali, Tharcisse Renzaho, Ephraim Setako, and Odette Nyirabagenzi, former leader of Rugenge sector. NPPA issued an international arrest warrant for Seyoboka earlier this year. In 2007, the Gacaca court of Nyarugenge sector tried Seyoboka in absentia and sentenced him to 19 years for his participation in the Genocide. Jean Damascène Bizimana, the executive secretary of the National Commission for the Fight against Genocide (CNLG), yesterday welcomed the deportation and equally applauded Canadian authorities for helping “fight impunity.” “This is very positive in the sense of justice as far as the crime of Genocide and crimes against humanity are concerned,” Bizimana said. Bizimana added that Seyoboka’s deportation shows that foreign countries now acknowledge the credibility and competence of Rwanda’s justice system to handle such cases. Last weekend, the Netherlands deported two Genocide suspects, Jean-Claude Iyamuremye and Jean-Baptiste Mugimba, who were also wanted for genocide and crimes against humanity committed during the 1994 Genocide. Unmasking the genocidaire Earlier, in May, news reports from Canada indicated that Seyoboka, then a resident of Ville de Gatineau, a city in western Quebec, had lost his last chance to stay in Canada. Canadian Federal Court judge Danièle Tremblay-Lamer ruled that “it is now time for him to face his past actions, and let justice run its course.” In April 1994, he was reportedly made part of an artillery unit fighting the Rwandan Patriotic Front, and was later transferred to another unit and patrolled roadblocks. Shortly after fleeing to Zaire, now DR Congo, he applied to immigrate to Canada, in June 1994, to join his wife and son. In January 1995, Seyoboka obtained a fake passport, travelled to Toronto and claimed refugee status but never disclosed his involvement in the Rwandan military in the refugee application process, which is a crime according to Canadian laws. His legal trouble began in 1998 when following his ICTR interview, his military past was disclosed to Canadian Citizenship and Immigration officials The man who had earlier claimed to have played ‘a protection role’ during the Genocide, was now known to have actually, among others, killed a woman only identified as Francine and her two children because she refused to have sex with him in return for protection. In early 2010, a Canadian Court denied him asylum for the sixth time due to existing evidence implicating him for participating in the 1994 Genocide.Seyoboka had fought deportation rulings arguing that we would not receive fair trial in Rwanda. However, his arguments were dismissed by the Judge. “In the past few years, Rwanda has brought its justice system up to international standards and can safeguard Mr. Seyoboka’s right to a fair trial in his country of origin should he be prosecuted,” wrote Tremblay-Lamer in her judgement. Seyoboka is the son-in-law of Col. Elie Sagatwa, one of the leading masterminds of the Genocide and brother to former First Lady, Agathe Kanziga Habyarimana.. editorial@newtimes.co.rw

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Canada deports Genocide suspect