JURIST - Paper Chase: Germany to extradite arrested Rwanda presidential aide to France

[JURIST] German prosecutors announced Monday that they will extradite an aide to Rwandan President Paul Kagame [official website] to France on Wednesday in connection with the 1994 assassination [NYT report] of then-Rwandan president Juvenal Habyarima that led to the Rwanda genocide [HRW backgrounder]. Rose Kabuye [advocacy profile], an official in the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) [HRW profile], was arrested [JURIST report] last week under a European warrant issued by French Judge Jean-Louis Bruguiere [BBC profile] in 2006. German officials said that because Kabuye entered the country on personal business, she was not protected by her diplomatic status that had previously prevented her arrest. Kagame responded [AFP report] Monday that Kabuye's arrest and extradition is in effect putting Rwanda itself on trial and that French officials issued the warrant for political reasons. AP has more. From Rwanda, the New Times has local coverage.

In October, German authorities transferred [JURIST report] Augustin Ngirabatware, a former Rwandan minister suspected of involvement in the 1994 Rwanda genocide [BBC backgrounder], from a facility in Frankfurt to a UN detention facility in Arusha, Tanzania, where he faces trial by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) [official website]. In July, German border police arrested [press release; JURIST report] Rwandan war crimes suspect Callixte Mbarushiman as he was preparing to travel to Russia.

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