Netherlands poised to extradite Rwandan genocide suspect

The Netherlands is allowed to extradite a Rwandan genocide suspect, the Dutch Supreme Court determined on Wednesday.

The 38-year-old man, Jean-Claude Iyamuremye, was held for extradition in October last year. In December last year the court already made the same decision. The statements are remarkable, because the Netherlands has no extradition treaty with Rwanda. For the first time the Netherlands extradites someone to the African country.

The suspect believed he would not get a fair trial in Rwanda and therefore went to court. However, the Supreme Court did not agree and stated that he could find a professional lawyer in Rwanda.

Iyamuremye, who lived in Voorburg, had been in custody since July 9 last year after being arrested by the Dutch police. The Rwandan government had requested for his arrest, because he is suspected of genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and torture during the Rwanda genocide of 1994, in which hundreds of thousands of people were killed. As a Hutu leader of the Interahamwe militia Iyamuremye allegedly participated in attacks on Tutsis.

In 2011 the Dutch Immigration and Naturalization Service (IND) revoked the residence permit of Iyamuremye due to serious suspicions of involvement in the massacre of Tutsis. His appeal against the revocation was dismissed in March 2013 by the court.

China.org.cn

UM– USEKE.RW