A French court has ordered the
extradition of Rwandan rebel leader Callixte Mbarushimana to face trial at the
International Criminal Court.
Mr Mbarushimana is accused of 11
counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, committed in the Democratic
Republic of Congo last year.
His ethnic Hutu FDLR group is at
the heart of years of conflict in eastern DR Congo, near Rwanda.
Arrested in France last month, he
has previously denied war crimes charges.
Mr Mbarushimana faces five counts
of crimes against humanity and six counts of war crimes, including charges of
murder, torture, rape, inhumane acts and persecution, and destruction of
property.
The Paris court approved his
transfer to The Hague’s ICC “on condition that under no circumstances
should Mr Mbarushimana be taken back by any means to Rwanda”.
Some FDLR leaders have been accused
of taking part in the 1994 genocide of ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus in Rwanda.
ICC spokesperson Pascal Turlan said
that unless Mr Mbarushimana’s lawyers appealed against the decision, he would
be handed over to the court within a month.
His lawyers had tried to block the
ICC warrant, arguing it could be a first step towards sending him back to
Rwanda, where they say he would not get a fair trial.
But Mr Turlan said the defendant
would be tried in The Hague.
“Mr Mbarushimana is under two
arrest warrants in Rwanda and the fear of the defence was that this would be a
kind of a smokescreen to actually send him to Rwanda,” he said.
“Of course it’s not the case.
Of course the person is surrendered to the ICC to be tried before the
ICC.”
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