French court postpones Genocide trial to October

A French court in Bordeaux Tuesday postponed the case involving Sosthene Munyemana, a medical doctor accused of participating in the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, to October.

Thursday, June 17, 2010

A French court in Bordeaux Tuesday postponed the case involving Sosthene Munyemana, a medical doctor accused of participating in the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, to October.

The court postponed the case alleging a delay by the Rwandan authorities to send details of the case,
According to media reports, the presiding judge in the French court said that Rwanda had only sent an arrest warrant and extradition request without giving any details of the charges against Munyemana, a claim that was dismissed by the spokesperson of Rwanda’s Office of the Prosecutor, Augustin Nkusi.

"Procedurally, we don’t send international arrest warrants and extradition requests together with the full dossier of a case,” said Nkusi adding that they were waiting for the court to request for the details or send a team to investigate.

"There is no problem on our side; we did what we had to do and it was in line with the procedures. We are waiting for further requests from them which we are ready to grant,” he said.

Munyemana, 45, hails from the Southern part of Rwanda, formerly Butare Prefecture, and for the last eight years, has been working in France as a medical doctor at a hospital in Villeneuve-sur-Lot, in the southwest part of France.

Munyemana allegedly participated in various heinous killings that earned him the nick-name; "the Butcher of Tumba”, while working as a gynecologist at the University Hospital in Butare.

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