Dec 21, 20212 min read

Swedish Court rules to extradite Genocide suspect Micomyiza

A top Swedish Court on Tuesday, December 21, found no reason why a Rwandan arrested in the Nordic country last year should not be extradited to Kigali where he is wanted for crimes he allegedly committed during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.

According to reports from the country, the Supreme Court sees no legal obstacle to extraditing Jean Paul Micomyiza, 49, to Rwanda where he is accused of involvement in the 1994 genocide. He was detained on November 17, 2020. His lawyers, Thomas Bodström and Hanna Larsson Rampe are against the court's ruling, reports indicate, claiming that the legal system in Rwanda has serious shortcomings, a claim advanced by most defenders of suspected mass murderers elsewhere. The suspect who has lived in Gothenburg, a major city in Sweden situated off the Göta Älv River on the country's west coast, for 15 years has been in custody for more than a year. He was arrested as a result of Rwanda's request for his extradition, on suspicion of involvement in the 1994 Tutsi Genocide.

Micomyiza applied but was denied citizenship in Sweden because he is politically active.

According to reports from Sweden, it is now up to the government to decide whether the suspect should be extradited or not.

During the Genocide committed against Tutsi in 1994, Micomyiza was a second year student at the National University of Rwanda, in the Faculty of Applied Sciences.

In addition to being a student at the National University of Rwanda, he was also a member of a committee called Comité de Crise that was instrumental in committing the Genocide.

According to sources, evidence gathered during investigations shows the participation of the suspect in crimes committed in Ngoma Commune, in the former Butare Préfecture (Currently in Huye District, in the Southern Province), at the campus of the University campus and its surroundings.

Micomyiza is accused of: committing Genocide by killing members of the Tutsi ethnic group, complicity in Genocide and crimes against humanity (rape).

Sweden is home to other Genocide suspects including Théodore Rukeratabaro who was, in mid 2018, given a life sentence there for his role in the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.

Apart from Rukeratabaro, on February 15, 2017, the Svea Court of Appeal in Stockholm, upheld the life sentence imposed on Claver Berinkindi, a Rwandan who acquired Swedish citizenship in 2012 after finding him guilty of Genocide he committed in the former Prefecture of Butare in addition Stanisilas Mbanenande who was also handed a life sentence on June 20, 2013.

https://www.newtimes.co.rw/news/swedish-court-rules-extradite-genocide-suspect-micomyiza