Ruling on Munyeshaka transfer set for Sept 19

PARIS - The Paris Court of Appeal on Thursday postponed until September 19 to rule on the transfer of Fr Wenceslas Munyeshyaka and Laurent Bucyibaruta to the Arusha-based Genocide tribunal for trial.The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) had asked the French court to facilitate the transfer of the duo to the Tanzania-based tribunal’s detention facility.Munyeshyaka, the former parish priest of St Famille church and Bucyibaruta a former prefect of Gikongoro prefecture are both accused of having participated in the 1994 Rwanda Genocide. The two were re-arrested after the ICTR revised their arrest warrants following their release in July. Earlier, the French court ordered the release of the two Genocide fugitives on the basis that their arrest warrants had been erroneously prepared by the ICTR prosecutor.The government of Rwanda had sought Munyeshyaka to be extradited to Rwanda where the priest was sentenced in absentia to life imprisonment in a joint trial with Maj Gen Laurent Munyakazi over the killings that took place at St Famille Church. Both Munyeshyaka (above) and Bucyibaruta appear on the list of key fugitives of the Genocide which was published by the Office of the Prosecutor General last year.They also appear on the list of 17 people issued by the ICTR and their identities had been kept a secret by the tribunal for purposes that they would flee and they were unmasked in July this year.Ends

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Ruling on Munyeshaka transfer set for Sept 19