03.03.10 - RWANDA/FRANCE - KAGAME WANTS AGATHE HABYARIMANA TO BE TRIED

Arusha, March 3, 2010 (FH) - Rwandan President Paul Kagame demanded on Wednesday that Agathe Habyarimana be tried "in Rwanda or elsewhere" for her alleged role in the 1994 genocide.

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The Head of State made the request during his monthly press conference in Kigali, which was broadcasted live on local radio and television.

Mrs. Habyarimana was briefly arrested for questioning on Tuesday in Courcouronnes (Paris region) by the French police executing an international arrest warrant issued by the Rwandan government on October 19, 2009. Rwandan Prosecutor General Martin Ngoga has charged her with genocide, complicity in genocide, as well as criminal conspiracy to commit genocide and crime against humanity.

Mrs. Habyarimana was released after a judge had put her on a probation order which prohibits her from leaving France and requests her to report to a local police station every month.

« Can we have this case tried now (...) by a credible court of justice (...) here or elsewhere? What we are looking for is justice", Paul Kagame said during his press conference.

"If you don't trust the justice system in Rwanda, why don't you try them?" he added in reference to Western countries and their refusal to extradite some Rwandans genocide suspects to their home country.

"This does not need very intelligent people to understand. I am following simple logic", he concluded.

Paul Kagame also said he was «surprised » that Western countries boasting about their ability to handle fair trials « cannot try a case » linked to the 1994 genocide.

Asked about his expectations regarding a judicial procedure in France, he replied cautiously: « I don't want to prejudge the outcome because the outcome is not there ».

ER/GF

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