Norway court says genocide suspect can be extradited to Rwanda

A Norwegian court ruled Wednesday that the extradition to Rwanda of a man suspected of participation in the country’s 1994 genocide can go ahead.

Eugene Nkuranyabahizi, a 41-year-old Hutu with Burundian citizenship, has lived in Norway since 1999, where he was arrested in May last year.

“We are heading for an extradition as the Court of Appeal (in the Norwegian city of Bergen) has found that all the conditions are met,” Per Zimmer, prosecutor in the case, told AFP.

However, Nkuranyabahizi’s lawyer John Christian Elden said he would contest the decision at the Supreme Court, according to Norwegian news agency NTB.

“We believe that the Court of Appeal came to the wrong conclusion,” he told the agency.

Rwanda wants Nkuranyabahizi to stand trial over allegations that he took part in the 1994 genocide, in which 800,000 people were killed.

The former teacher is accused of having participated in massacres in the areas of Nkakwa and Cyahinda, where some 7,500 people died in April 1994.

The Global Post

UM– USEKE.RW