Genocide suspect denied asylum in Canada again

CANADA - A Canadian Court on Tuesday denied asylum for the sixth time to Henri Jean Claude Seyoboka due to existing evidence pinning him for participating in the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. Seyoboka, a former soldier in the Forces Armees Rwandaise (FAR), had his refugee status revoked by the Canadian Immigration authorities after he had deliberately failed to mention his army links. It was later found that he also participated in the massacres. In a desperate attempt to restore his refugee status, the 43 year old resident of Quebec filed appeals six times trying to distance himself from the Genocide, but has been told by the Federal Court of Canada that he is excluded from refugee status as investigations continue. Seyoboka arrived in Canada in 1996, and claimed refugee protection which he was granted. He then applied for permanent residency status. In both his applications, however, he made no mention that he had served in the Ex-FAR at the height of the Genocide. The turning point came in 2002 when an indictment filed at the ICTR against another person, spoke of “Second-Lieutenant Jean-Claude Seyoboka” manning a roadblock in Kigali on April 7, 1994, along with members of the Rwandan army and the Interahamwe, militia. Investigations indicate that Seyoboka, who had earlier claimed to have played ‘a protection role’ during the Genocide, killed a woman only named as Francine and her two children because she refused to have sex with him in return for protection,. He managed to keep his name off the list of many suspected genocidaires hiding in the North American country. However, these new revelations come at a time when the Canadian government has lifted deportation restrictions against Rwandans denied asylum opening the possibility for government to send back hundreds back home. Jamie Todd, a lawyer for the Canadian government, told court on Tuesday that Seyoboka was now angling for one more “kick at the can” in his fight to remain in Canada and trying to “wriggle out” of his responsibility and is inadmissible in Canada by virtue of being a high-ranking member of the Rwandan regime at the time of the Genocide. Seyoboka is the son-in-law of Colonel Elie Sagatwa, one of the leading masterminds of the Genocide and brother to former First Lady, Agathe Kanziga Habyarimana. Ends

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Genocide suspect denied asylum in Canada again