Prosecution will appeal Wenceslas Twagirayezu verdict.
The National Public Prosecution Authority (NPPA) has said that it is not satisfied with the court’s decision to acquit Wenceslas Twagirayezu, an extradited genocide suspect who was cleared of genocide charges yesterday.
Twagirayezu, who was extradited from Denmark in 2019, was released by the High Court Chamber of International, Cross-border Crimes in Nyanza on grounds that there was no sufficient evidence to prove his direct role in the 1994 genocide against Tutsi.
In a message posted on their X account, the Prosecution Office said they said that the decision to acquit Twagirayezu Wenceslas will be appealed.
“The prosecution is not satisfied with the court decision of the High Court, Chamber of International and Transnational crimes, acquitting Twagirayezu Wenceslas. The prosecution will appeal against this decision,” the prosecution wrote on January 11.
The prosecution had asked court to sentence Twagirayezu to a life sentence.
One of the reasons for the acquittal of Twagirayezu by the High Court in Nyanza is that there was no evidence that the prosecution showed to prove the accused was actually in Rwanda.
The court made release decision based on the documents he provided showing that he was in Zaire at that time which is now the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo).
The presiding judge said that Twagirayezu’s innocence was also based on the conflicting statements of the witnesses in the work he has done and the parties he has been in.
His lawyer Bruce Bikotwa and Twagirayezu said that there was a discrepancy in the testimony given by some witnesses in the trial because they said that Twagirayezu was a teacher in the vocational school at that time called (CERAI) and others said that he was dead.
Another basis for his acquittal, the judge said, was that the prosecution was unable to present concrete evidence that contradicts Twagirayezu’s statement which showed the dates he is accused of participating in the genocide, he was not in Rwanda.
The court ordered that Twagirayezu Wencislas be cleared of various crimes including the crime of genocide and ordered that he be released immediately.
Twagirayezu, an academician by profession, was facing charges of genocide which he allegedly committed as the leaders of CDR party in former Gisenyi town (now Rubavu town) where three thousands were killed at St Fidèle school and in Busasamana Parish.
Twagirayezu is the second Rwandan sent by Denmark after Emmanuel Mbarushimana.
He is the first extradited suspect to Rwanda to be acquitted, among the suspects sent by various European countries to be tried in Rwanda for genocide crimes.
The umbrella association for Genocide survivor organizations in Rwanda (IBUKA) that advocates for the interests of the genocide victims and survivors of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi also said that it is not happy with the justice rendered given to Twagirayezu.
Ibuka President Dr. Philibert Gakwenzire said that although they respect the court’s decision, they are not happy with the way the survivors were not given full justice for Twagirayezu.
“According to where he lived in Busasamana in Gisenyi, it is close to the DR Congo, so there is no way to confirm that he was really a Congolese at that time until the end of the Genocide, Ibuka said;
“And as one of the members of the CDR party, it is not clear that he did not plan to commit the Genocide and his intention was to eliminate Tutsi.” .
Ibuka stated that it supports the Prosecution Office’s decision to appeal the court’s ruling.
