Gov’t to seek extradition of ‘Genocide couple’

KIGALI - The National Public Prosecution Authority (NPPA), yesterday, said that necessary documents will soon be sent to South Africa to seek the extradition of a couple convicted in absentia by Gacaca courts for their role in the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi. Dr Pierre Mugabo and his wife, Felicité Musanganire, are said to be working at the pharmacology department of the University of Western Cape hospital. “We carried out investigations that led to an indictment and arrest warrant for those two people. Everything is ready and we shall soon be sending them to South Africa through diplomatic channels,” NPPA Spokesperson Augustin Nkusi said yesterday. According to prosecution, the warrant of arrest for the couple could not be sent initially because they did not know the couple’s whereabouts. Nkusi added that the legal documents are designed to have the couple return to Rwanda to face justice. He said that the duo, once extradited, will have two options of either seeking a retrial of the Gacaca cases, or serve their respective sentences. “The law allows them to oppose the sentence. But what we are interested in, is for them to return and be tried here,” he said. Nkusi added that the development is in the framework of a draft extradition treaty that Rwanda sent to South Africa, although the country is yet to respond to it. “We are waiting for their response,” Nkusi said. “It is now a year since we sent it.” Mugabo was sentenced to 30 years by the Gacaca court of Ngoma Sector, Southern Province last year, while his wife was sentenced to 25 years in 2006. The South African hospital where the couple is working had earlier told The Guardian, a South African newspaper, that it will continue to employ them on grounds that the charges against them were yet to be brought before court. Ends