France appeals court approves transfer of Rwanda war crimes suspect to ICTR News
France appeals court approves transfer of Rwanda war crimes suspect to ICTR

[JURIST] The Court of Appeal of Paris Wednesday approved the transfer of Rwandan genocide suspect Dominique Ntawukuriryayo [ICTR case materials] to the custody of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda [official website]. The former public official was arrested in France [JURIST report] last month. He has been charged [indictment, PDF] with genocide, complicity in genocide and direct and public incitement to genocide. The handover will be delayed as Ntawukuriryayo's appeal of the decision is pending. Reuters has more.

The charges against Ntawukuriryayo stem principally from his alleged involvement in the Kabuye Hill massacre that occurred over five days in late April 1994, during which as many as 25,000 Tutsi refugees were killed. Then sub-prefect for the Gisagara region, Ntawukuriryayo allegedly promised protection to Tutsis and ordered them to move to Kabuye Hill; instead they were surrounded and shot by gendarmes and communal policemen. Approximately 800,000 people died in the following three months of the Rwandan genocide [BBC backgrounder].