Rwanda to continue pursuing Rwamucyo

KIGALI - RWANDA has vowed to continue pursing genocide suspect, Dr. Eugene Rwamucyo, as well as other genocide suspects on European soil despite yesterday’s setback whereby France refused to honour a request to extradite the Rwandan doctor to face Genocide charges. In reaction to the decision by the court in Versailles, just outside Paris, to release Rwamucyo on Wednesday, the Prosecutor General, Martin Ngoga, yesterday said that Rwanda will not be deterred by the actions of the French court and will continue to pursue Rwamucyo and others so they can face their day in court. “We have news that Rwamucyo has been released and we have no official communication yet. In any event, this is a preliminary procedural stage and no substantive trial has been conducted,” said Ngoga. He added that they would remain in touch with investigators in France to get more details regarding the development. Regardless of the hitch kids, , our efforts to pursue and get him to answer for the charges against him will not be deterred,” he added. Rwamucyo, a medical doctor, was arrested in May in reaction to an arrest warrant issued by the Rwandan prosecution over his role in the killings of Tutsis in the former Butare Prefecture in the Southern Province. “We cannot give up before those on the run face their day in court; even in situations where we are caught up in the midst of complications in the jurisdictions too remote to our situation and far beyond our reach,” Ngoga told The New Times. He was arrested a month after he had been dismissed from his hospital post in northern France. According to sources, Rwamucyo was detained in Sannois, north of Paris, after attending the funeral of Jean Bosco Barayagwiza, who was convicted for war crimes by the Arusha-based International Criminal Tribunal of Rwanda (ICTR) and died in jail. Rwamucyo lived in Belgium with his family but worked as a doctor in a city hospital in Maubeuge, northern France, near the Belgian border. His wife, Mamerique Mukabanana, was a journalist with Radio Rwanda until 1994. Ends

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Rwanda to continue pursuing Rwamucyo