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Canada to deport Rwandan genocide suspect

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IANS Kigali

The federal court of Canada has decided to deport one of the key Rwandan genocide suspect Jean Berchmans Habinshuti after he failed to gain asylum status in Canada, a source said here Wednesday.

It said that Canada's federal court reached its decision to decline the suspect's appeal and deport him back to his home country, Xinhua reported.

Habinshuti, 59, who arrived in Canada in 2011, was a special adviser before 1994 to the former Rwanda's Prime Minister Agathe Uwilingiyimana, who was murdered alongside her husband in the early hours of the genocide in April 1994 for opposing the genocide ideology against the Tutsi.

 

"He is suspected of having played a major role in the planning and execution of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi," said spokesperson of Rwanda's National Public Prosecution Authority, Alain Mukuralinda.

Mukuralinda said the suspect will be on his way to Rwanda very shortly, adding that the suspect is charged with genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide, complicity in genocide, direct and public incitement to commit genocide, murder and extermination as crimes against humanity.

Habinshuti is the second Rwandan genocide suspect to be deported home from Canada after another senior member of the National Republican Movement for Democracy and Development, the former ruling party before genocide largely blamed for the massacre was Leon Mugesera returned after dropping his appeal.

It is said the suspect will be escorted Thursday on a flight from Canada to Rwanda to face charges.

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First Published: May 29 2014 | 6:00 AM IST

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