PARIS - The Paris Chamber of Instruction will today decide whether Fr Wenceslas Munyeshyaka and Laurent Bucyibaruta should be extradited to the ICTR, according to reports.The duo, wanted for Genocide crimes, was re-arrested last Thursday after being released in July on grounds that the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) had faultily prepared their arrest warrants. In July, a French appeals court said Munyeshyaka and Laurent Bucyibaruta’s warrants were invalid and ordered their release.Munyeshyaka is in detention at Evreux Prison Department of Eure in Normandie while Bucyibaruta is held at the Troyes Prison - Aube department, some 150 km north-east of Paris. Munyeshyaka is former parish priest of St Famille Cathedral in Kigali City, while Bucyibaruta is a former prefect of Gikongoro province, now in Southern Province.A new arrest warrant was issued by the ICTR on August 14 and transmitted through the French embassy in Tanzania. The indictments demand for the transfer of both men to the Tanzania-based ICTR.Rwanda had earlier called on France to extradite Munyeshyaka to Rwanda to serve his life sentence.The Rwandan Military Tribunal last year convicted Munyeshyaka jointly with Maj. Gen. Laurent Munyakazi to life imprisonment after finding them guilty of the killings of hundreds of Tutsis at the St Famille Cathedral during the 1994 Genocide.Meanwhile, President Paul Kagame on Monday said that the two men’s arrests was a welcome move which should however strictly be viewed in a judicial perspective.Rwanda broke her diplomatic ties with France last November after a French magistrate issued arrest warrants top Rwandan leaders. However Kagame said on Monday he was aware of efforts by Paris to try to end the diplomatic impasse between both countries.Ends
