Rwanda’s Justice minister Tharcisse Karugarama has welcomed a decision by a French court to extradite Claude Muhayimana, a Rwandan with French-Rwandan dual citizenship.
Muhayimana is accused of taking part in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda and crimes against humanity.
It is a remarkable gesture for France to have taken a step as the very first time a French court to agree that a genocide suspect should be extradited to Rwanda to face charges in a country a suspect allegedly committed the crimes, said Karugarama at a press conference in Kigali.
France has previously extradited Rwandan genocide suspects to the International Criminal Tribunal in Tanzania but refused to send anyone to Rwanda due to concerns whether the suspects would receive fair trials.
Muhayimana denies any role in the genocide in which 800,000 people, mainly Tutsis, died, and is planning to appeal the decision to extradite him, said his lawyer Geraldine Boitieux.
“Rwanda authorities accuse him of taking part in genocide and crime against humanity. And obviously he did not do it because he's from a mixed family, half Hutu and half Tutsi.”
She said her client would be happy to be judged by a French court or by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) but not by a Rwandan tribunal.
