Rwandan officials express their anger to the French appeals court decision to release two genocide suspects. Wenceslas Munyeshyaka, a 49 year old Catholic priest, and Laurent Bucyibarutu, a 62 year old former official, were arrested on Friday. The French court ruled the warrants, issued by the UN-backed International Criminal Tribunal on Rwanda (ICTR), could not be executed.
Many Rwandan officials, like Aloys Mutabingwa, a Rwandan representative of a genocide tribunal, said the decision was political and not judicially motivated. They were not surprised at the decision since the two suspects lived in France for 10 years without worries.
The Rwandan representative at the ICTR condemned the ruling. The ICTR, a Tanzania court formed in1994, has thus far condemned 28 genocide suspect. In an effort to bring to justice individuals who played an active or inactive role in the 1994 genocide Rwanda continues to investigate and arrest genocide suspects in and out of the country.
The Rwandan government has repeatedly accused the French government of assisting Hutu rebels in the massacre of nearly one million Tutsis. Several reports indicate that France was aware of the planned genocide but chose to continue supporting the Hutu army. Furthermore, the Rwandan government accused the French government of dragging its feet to cooperate in the investigation of genocide suspects. France has continued to deny such allegations.
The most recent conviction of a Rwandan genocide suspect occurred on July 5th in a Belgium court. Bernard Ntuyahaga, a former Rwandan army major was sentenced to 20 years in prison for the murder of 10 Belgium peacekeepers in the early stages of the genocide. The murders triggered the withdrawal of UN peacekeepers; had they stayed thousands of murders could have been prevented.
For more information please see:
BBC – Rwandan Anger at Suspect Release – 02 August 2007
AllAfrica – Rwanda: ICTR/France- Munyeshyaka And Bucyibaruta Released – 01 August 2007
Yahoo – French Court Frees Rwandan Genocide Suspects – 01 August 2007
BBC – Long Sentence for Rwandan Murders – 05 July 2007
