French court approves transfer of Rwandan genocide suspect

A French court on Wednesday approved the extradition of Rwandan genocide suspect Felicien Kabuga to a United Nations tribunal.

But Kabuga’s lawyers have asked another court to examine the decision, meaning that he will remain on French soil for at least 10 days and possibly months.

Kabuga was arrested in May in Paris after 25 years on the run. He was one of the most wanted fugitives in Rwanda’s 1994 genocide.

Kabuga is accused of equipping militias in the genocide that killed more than 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus who tried to protect them.

Kabuga’s lawyers said their 87-year-old client’s health is too frail for him to be transferred to the U.N.’s International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals based at The Hague in the Netherlands.

But the French court Wednesday said that the condition of Kabuga’s health was not an obstacle to his extradition.

(Representative Image)(Image Credit Pixabay)