United Nations committee against torture has disrupted Canadian court process that seemed to rule the deportation of the 1994 Genocide suspect Leon Mugesera.
The Canadian government had decided to deport Mugesera to Rwanda to face justice for his possible role in the 1994 Genocide.
The United Nations Committee Against Torture requested that Canadian government should not deport Mugesera to allow it investigate his claims he’d be tortured in Rwanda.
His family also pleaded with the Canadian government to give the international body the time it needs to complete its investigations, which could take at least a couple of months.
“We implore Canada to respect its international obligations as demanded by the (UN) High Commissioner for Human Rights on Jan. 11, 2012,” the family said in the short statement.
“Our argument is that if it has any meaning for Canada to ratify these international conventions, then they should wait instead of acting like cowboys,” Mugesera’s lawyer Philippe Larochelle said.
The federal government has disputed the warnings of possible torture, saying it has taken all necessary steps to ensure Mugesera would be treated fairly in Rwanda.
It has been reported that the Federal Court rejected Mugesera’s last-ditch effort to stay in Canada which has been his home for the last 19 years and he was set to be deported immediately.
Mugesera’s family says he is in critical condition in a Quebec City hospital, where he has spent a second straight day with an unspecified health issue.
Some media reports alleged that Mugesera could have ingested himself medication that made him ill Wednesday.
The family did not provide any further details about his condition.
Justice William Fraiberg ordered a stay of deportation until Jan. 20, when Mugesera’s lawyers are due back in court.
Mugesera was slated to be deported yesterday Thursday to face criminal charges related to the 1994 killing of over million Tutsi.
But the province’s Superior Court intervened, ordering a stay on his deportation order, to allow the legal evaluation of a prior request from the United Nations’ committee against torture.
ENDS
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