IGIHE.com has reliably learnt that a French court in Versailles has today 10th January 2012 turned down Rwanda’s request for the extradition of a former magistrate Manasse Bigwenzaré accused of involvement in the 1994 Tutsi genocide.
Bigwenzaré said he was happy with the outcome, adding that he had “always known it was a lie”, and that he had never been politically active in Rwanda.
Government of Rwanda had obtained an international arrest warrant for Bigwenzaré, on charges of crimes against humanity and genocide.
The judge noted that Bigwenzaré could be persecuted if he returned to Rwanda.
The judge also ordered the lifting of judicial controls which had applied to Bigwenzaré since his arrest in June, just north of Paris, where he lives in a retirement home.
Bigwenzaré obtained French nationality in 2010, after fleeing Rwanda on 8th April 1994, just after the killing began, according to his lawyer.
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