afrol News, 6 June - London Magistrates back Rwanda’s request to extradite four men accused of crimes against humanity in 1994 genocide.

Suspects, Dr Vincent Bajinya, Charles Munyaneza, Celestin Ugirashebuja and Emmanuel Nteziryayo, who were local government officials at the time of the genocide, are now facing charges including genocide and crimes against humanity.

The men also face charges of their being involved in alleged acts of devastation and looting in chaos that ensued after Tutsis were blamed for shooting down an aircraft, killing Hutu president Juvenal Habyarimana.

City of Westminster Magistrate Court judge said the men should be send back to face their acts before the war crimes tribunal.

The four men, who were arrested in different parts of England in December 2006, denied charges for their involvement in 100 days of slaughter that claimed over 800,000 Tutsi’s and moderate Hutus in country’s capital, Kigali in 1994.

Despite the country having abolished death penalty and constructing modern detention centre, there were still concerns from international human rights groups about Rwanda's ability to investigate crimes both fairly and impartially.

Human rights group Amnesty International said in November last year that countries around the world, including Britain, should try Rwandan exiles suspected of complicity in the genocide.

Thirty people have been convicted and five acquitted of involvement in the killings at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), based in Arusha Tanzania.

By staff writer

© afrol News / Awdal News Network

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