23.03.12 - RWANDA/FRANCE - RWANDA SENDS FRENCH INVESTIGATORS HOME OVER GENOCIDE CASES

 Arusha, March 22, 2012 (FH) – Rwanda last week sent home a French rogatory commission to protest France's slow handling of genocide cases, Prosecutor General Martin Ngoga said on Thursday. The commission had come to investigate cases of Rwandans living in France who are accused of participating in the 1994 genocide.

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“We told them go back until you are ready to do serious business, then we would be ready to work with you,” Ngoga told a press conference in Arusha.

 

There are about 20 cases in France of Rwandans under investigation for alleged participation in the genocide, but no trial has yet been started. “France has been very disappointing in terms of how they handle genocide cases,” Ngoga said.

 

Ngoga told journalists the team of investigators sent back from Rwanda were on their 35th visit. “In our statistics, France has sent more rogatory commissions to Rwanda than any other European country,” he added.

 

According to him, there have been 18 cases of genocide suspects arrested in France and later released for different reasons, as well as a case file that recently went missing.

 

“I think if France does not change the way they have been handling genocide cases, we (prosecution in Rwanda) will have to reassess our working relations with them,” said Ngoga. “ We cannot continue to take simplistic excuses like there is no budget. You can’t talk about budget in genocide cases in a country like France.”

 

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