Reuters AlertNet Lite - Rwanda files World Court case against France

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Rwanda files World Court case against France

18 Apr 2007 19:56:37 GMT
Source: Reuters

AMSTERDAM, April 18 (Reuters) - Rwanda filed a case at the World Court on Wednesday accusing France of violating international law by seeking the prosecutions of Rwandan President Paul Kagame and associates.

A French judge issued nine arrest warrants in November over the 1994 shooting down of a plane in which former Rwandan president Juvenal Habyarimana died. The incident led to the massacre of some 800,000 minority Tutsis and politically moderate Hutus by extremist Hutus.

Referring to three of those arrest warrants, Rwanda said France was violating international law, the International Court of Justice in The Hague said.

Judge Jean-Louis Bruguiere issued the nine arrest warrants and separately said Kagame should stand trial at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR).

Rwanda also asked that the court find that France breached the obligation of states to refrain from intervention in the affairs of other countries by asking for Kagame to stand trial.

"(The) Rwanda Government believes issuance of International arrest warrants by a sovereign State against officers of another sovereign State poses serious International Law issues that need to be addressed by an impartial and Competent International Court," Rwanda said.

Bruguiere in November filed a document at the Paris prosecutor's office citing evidence that Kagame and members of his military staff planned the 1994 operation to destroy the plane.

Those accusations have infuriated the Kagame government, which calls them a cover-up to mask France's role in training the Rwandan soldiers who carried out the genocide.

Kagame, a Tutsi, has said it was senior Hutu commanders backed by France who shot down the plane carrying the former president.

Rwanda has long said France shares blame for the genocide. France, one of the key supporters of the Hutu-led regime that governed the country in the years leading up to the genocide, has denied responsibility for the slaughter.

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Last updated:Wed Apr 18 19:56:16 2007