July 2001 Africa News Headlines

Thursday, July 19, 2001 - Web posted at 10:57:26 GMT

Genocide suspect fights extradition - A

Rwandan priest, arrested in Switzerland on genocide charges, has appealed to the Swiss Supreme Court to block his extradition to a United Nations war crimes tribunal, legal sources said yesterday.

Emmanuel Rukundo, a former Rwandan army chaplain who was working as a priest in , was detained on July 12 at the request of the United Nations' top war crimes prosecutor, Carla del Ponte.

He is accused of involvement in the country's 1994 genocide in which extremist Hutus massacred an estimated 800 000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus.

According to the charges, Rukundo, 42, compiled lists of Tutsis for killing and called for their extermination while he was working as an army preacher.

Legal sources said Rukundo, who denies the accusations, argued that he was not guaranteed a fair trial by the UN Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) in Arusha, Tanzania.

The Swiss court could take several months to issue a ruling.

The UN tribunal, which has been plagued by administrative difficulties and accusations of inefficiency, has so far tried only a handful of people, among them former Rwandan Prime Minister Jean Kambanda, who was sentenced to life imprisonment.

-Nampa-Reuters

•  Big Brother Africa 3: The audacity of Hazel!
•  Big Brother Africa 3: Who's your winner?