Sweden rejects Rwandan genocide suspect release
A Rwandan genocide suspect, who has been held in Sweden without trial since July 2008, is to remain in protective custody, the Swedish Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday, rejecting his request for release.
"The Supreme Court ... confirms the lower court decision" that Sylvere Ahorugeze should remain in custody, the court said in its ruling.
The 54-year-old Rwandan is suspected of having been one of the leaders of the Hutu extremists involved in the genocide of around 800,000 people, mostly minority Tutsis, and stands accused of murdering 28 Tutsis in a suburb of Kigali on April 7, 1994.
He was arrested in July 2008 after being recognised at the Rwandan embassy
in Sweden while living as a refugee in neighbouring Denmark. Rwanda requested
his extradition a month later.
Sweden decided a year later to send Ahorugeze back to Rwanda, but suspended
the extradition following a request by the European Court of Human Rights, amid concerns over the central African nation's rights record and the independence of its judiciary.
In his appeal of the Stockholm district court's decision to keep him in custody, Ahorugeze demanded that proof be presented that he had already been found guilty in Rwanda of among other things plundering, and complained that his long incarceration without trial was excessive.
The Swedish Supreme Court said Wednesday it had turned down his request for
an oral hearing and said it had been informed the European rights court would
hear his complaint before the end of the year.
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"The Supreme Court ... confirms the lower court decision" that Sylvere Ahorugeze should remain in custody, the court said in its ruling.
The 54-year-old Rwandan is suspected of having been one of the leaders of the Hutu extremists involved in the genocide of around 800,000 people, mostly minority Tutsis, and stands accused of murdering 28 Tutsis in a suburb of Kigali on April 7, 1994.
He was arrested in July 2008 after being recognised at the Rwandan embassy
in Sweden while living as a refugee in neighbouring Denmark. Rwanda requested
his extradition a month later.
Sweden decided a year later to send Ahorugeze back to Rwanda, but suspended
the extradition following a request by the European Court of Human Rights, amid concerns over the central African nation's rights record and the independence of its judiciary.
In his appeal of the Stockholm district court's decision to keep him in custody, Ahorugeze demanded that proof be presented that he had already been found guilty in Rwanda of among other things plundering, and complained that his long incarceration without trial was excessive.
The Swedish Supreme Court said Wednesday it had turned down his request for
an oral hearing and said it had been informed the European rights court would
hear his complaint before the end of the year.
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