A French Court of Cassation will today examine the appeal case of Rwanda genocide suspect Félicien Kabuga who is contesting being tried by international justice.
Kabuga, who stands 11 counts of genocide was arrested on May 16 in Paris-Frane after 26 years of evading justice. He is currently imprisoned in the Parisian capital awaiting his fate.
According to the act of indictment dated 21 November 2001, Kabuga is charged with genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide, complicity in genocide, direct and public incitation to commit genocide.
He is accused of assassination as a crime against humanity, extermination as a crime against humanity, rape as a crime against humanity, persecutions on political, racial or religious grounds as crimes against humanity in addition to various war crimes.
On June 3, the Paris Court of Appeal, responsible for examining the validity of the arrest warrant issued by the Mechanism for International Courts (MTPI), ordered Kabuga’s surrender to international justice under the International Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), now a Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (IRMCT)
During today’s public hearing before the Court Kabuga’s defense is expected to raise a priority question of constitutionality (QPC), arguing that “French law violates the Constitution by not providing for more in-depth control of international justice arrest warrants.”
In earlier defense he used his health conditions to convince the court to be tried in France and not be sent to the International Criminal Tribunal court in Arusha, Tanzania for trial.
If the appeal is rejected, France will have one month to submit it to the MTPI, meaning a subsequent transfer to a tribunal court for trial.
IRMCT Chief Prosecutor Serge Brammertz, who was in Rwanda to collect more evidence on Kabuga’s case, said on August 26 that the suspect will be sent to Arusha for trial.
According Brammertz, the trial could start this September or December 2020, based in the competence of the court and the findings in the case.
