What next as Kigali-Paris diplomatic row deepens?
A French court refuses to extradite a genocide suspect, spawning
fears that the pursuit of closure for victims could suffer from
souring relations. AFP
By EDMUND KAGIRE The EastAfrican
Posted Saturday, April 12 2014 at 16:58
In Summary
Kigali maintains that the country's diplomatic ties cannot be built on
a false foundation where facts have to be omitted for the sake of
friendship.
omatic row between Rwanda and France is likely to roll back the
progress Paris was making in pursuing genocide suspects on its soil.
On April 10, a French court refused to extradite a Rwandan accused of
killing 349 people during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.
The latest decision by a French court comes just days after Paris and
Kigali disagreed over remarks made by President Paul Kagame alluding
to France's alleged role in the genocide.
The remarks riled Paris, prompting the French Justice Minister
Christiane Taubira, who was supposed to lead a government delegation
to the 20th Commemoration of the Genocide against the Tutsi to call
off the trip in protest.
Rwanda retaliated by barring the French ambassador Michel Flesh from
attending the official events. Kigali maintained that the country's
diplomatic ties cannot be built on a false foundation where facts have
to be omitted for the sake of friendship.
But more than put a damper on the otherwise thriving bilateral
relations, the falling out, it is feared, could also derail the
pursuit of genocide suspects.
The Thursday ruling by a court in the southern city of Aix-en-Provence
that put a freeze on the extradition of Pierre Tegera, who worked with
the National Programme for Potato Improvement in Kinigi, Northern
Province, is seen as one of the far-reaching consequences of the
diplomatic standoff.
The court cited a ruling by a higher court in February that stated
that a case could not be judged on the basis of laws passed after the
alleged offences were committed.
According to court records, Mr Tegera participated in the first "trial
killings" in Kibilira between 1992 and 1993 yet the current genocide
laws punish crimes carried out from 1994 onwards. However, the judge,
Nicole Besset, said that it does not mean Mr Tegera has been cleared.
"That does not mean that the court is convinced that you were not
implicated in the crimes you are accused of," the judge told the
62-year old, according to French government media.
Mr Tegera, an ambulance driver in the Riviera city of Nice, killed,
according to Collective of Civil Plaintiffs for Rwanda (CCPR),
hundreds of people in the trial killings. CCPR is a campaign group
which fights for justice for genocide survivors.
According Alain and Dafroza Gauthier, who have been at the forefront
of genocide cases in France, Tegera "took part and provided
significant support" to the militias who spearheaded the first
killings that preceded the genocide.
He was named in an international report published in 1993 on rights
violations for killing 349 people. Mr Tegera was arrested in Nice in
July 2013 on the basis of an international arrest warrant issued by
Rwanda. France revoked his political asylum status in 2008.
Rwanda says France should not let the recent political differences
undo its recent progress. The trial and conviction of Pascal
Simbikangwa, a former intelligence head sentenced to 25 years in jail
in March, had brought hope that France was eventually going to act on
pending genocide cases.
Jean Pierre Dusingizemungu, the president of the umbrella association
of genocide survivors Ibuka, says that France should not use the
current situation as an excuse to backtrack on its efforts to bring
genocide suspects to book.
"We have always said if they cannot extradite them, they should try
them. What is clear is that Tegera committed the crimes, so there
should be other laws on which to charge him. The more France continues
to show indifference, the more it will appear that they have something
to hide. They should not relent because they don't agree on certain
political convictions. What we want to see is justice," says
Dusingizemungu.
Efforts to reach the Prosecutor General Richard Muhumuza were futile
by press time. It is not clear what Rwanda's next step will be.
However, according to Jean Bosco Mutangana, the head of the
International Crimes Unit at the National Public Prosecution
Authority, of the 193 case files Rwanda has sent out, France has the
highest number with 26 files remaining in Paris.
Save for Mr Simbikangwa's case, Kigali has over the past 20 years
accused Paris of dragging its feet on case files which are gathering
dust in the French justice system.
The 26 dossiers are accompanied with international arrest warrants.
When the two countries had a diplomatic rapprochement in 2009, justice
for genocide suspects was one of the most urgent issues to be
addressed.
After Simbikangwa's trial, France also resumed to hear the case of Dr
Sosthene Munyemana, who has been under investigation for his role in
the Genocide against the Tutsi. Since 2006, Dr Munyemana has been
serving as an emergency doctor at a hospital in Villeneuve -sur- Lot,
France.
http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/news/Rwanda-France-diplomatic-row-could-threaten-justice-bid-/-/2558/2277330/-/7ti593/-/index.html
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