In April 2002, 32 Rwandan citizens lodged a complaint in France against Dominique Ntawukuriryayo. Four months later, an order for lack of jurisdiction was issued, the police being unable to find his domicile in Carcassonne.
On 16 October 2007, Dominique Ntawukuriryayo was nevertheless arrested in Carcassonne. This arrest followed the issuance of an international arrest warrant by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) on 21 September 2006.
The Prosecutor of the ICTR accuses Dominique Ntawukuriryayo of genocide, complicity in genocide and direct and public incitement to commit genocide. According to the indictment which is dated from 2005, the accused held not only individual criminal responsibility but also responsibility as hierarchical superior for the crimes with which he was charged.
Ntawukuriryayo denied his participation in the genocide of 1994.
Following his arrest, the Paris Appeals Court ordered the transfer of Ntawukuriryayo to the ICTR. This decision became the subject of an appeal which was lodged with the Paris High Court of Appeal (Cour de Cassation). The High Court of Appeal annulled the decision by the lower Court on the grounds of violations of the procedural rights of the accused.
The case was then examined again by a lower Court of Appeal which ruled on 20 February to transfer Ntawukuriryayo to the ICTR.
Ntawukuriryayo was transferred to the ICTR in Arusha on 5 June 2008.
His lawyers announced that they would appeal this decision as well.
Trial Watch would like to remind its users that any person charged by national or international authorities is presumed innocent until proven guilty.
