Gen. Karenzi Karake
Rwanda has dismissed anonymous claims that the arrest warrant against Gen. Karenzi Karake the country’s Head of Security and Intelligence was valid.
Johnston Busingye, the Justice Minister and Attorney General, referred to the arrest warrant claims as false, misleading and unknown to law.
Anonymous sources within the Spanish Judiciary have been claiming that Gen. Karenzi’s arrest warrant was still valid.
“Gen. Karake’s case in the UK crumbled on account of the Spanish Judicial Authority’s own admission that it could not discharge the burden of proof required for a decision to extradite,” Busingye said.
The release of General Karake on August 11 came after the UK courts ruled that the general committed no offence that could be prosecuted in both England and Spain.
Busingye explained that the Spanish Supreme Court on 25th September clearly ruled that it did not satisfy the requirements for trial under the Spanish Universal Jurisdiction Law.
“After this Supreme Court decision the question of whether the UK notified Spain of the decision in Gen. Karake’s extradition case, even if it were true, becomes moot” Busingye explains.
Gen. Karake was released by UK justice in August this year, two months after he was arrested in London, UK.
After the UK court ruling, Busingye says, “It’s now the moment to engage constructively. I now expect the arrest warrants to be cancelled, if not cancelled already, transmission of the investigation file to complement the one in Kigali and warm and professional collaboration between the respective Spanish and Rwandan institutions on all subsequent steps.”
President Paul Kagame had described the arrest as a form of “western arrogance and contempt”.
Upon release of Karake on August 11, Busingye said the matter had not ended; Rwanda was to be compensated for a needless prosecution.
