24.06.11 - FRANCE/RWANDA - TWO NEW CASES OF RWANDAN SUSPECTS BEFORE PARISIAN JUDGES

Paris, June 24, 2011 (FH) - Cases of two Rwandan suspects have been transferred from Toulouse tribunal to Paris lower court at the end of May, increasing the number of genocide cases that should be examined by four dedicated Parisian judges to twenty.

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The French NGO Collectif des parties civiles pour le Rwanda (CPCR) had lodged a file against Joseph Habyarimana on June 18, 2010 and another one against Tito Barahira on March 28, 2011, before Toulouse lower court, where the two suspects are currently living.

Tito Barahira was arrested in Toulouse on March 16, 2011 and released three weeks later under judicial supervision. Rwanda has requested his extradition after issuing an international arrest warrant against him in August 2009 for " genocide, incitement to commit genocide and crimes against humanity".

According to the CPCR, Tito Barahira was bourgmestre of Kabarondo commune (East of Rwanda) between 1977 and 1986, before becoming a local director of public company Electrogaz and president of the local section of the then presidential party MRND.

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