Rights group hails US court ruling

The London-based NGO 'African Rights' on Wednesday issued a statement in support of a ruling by the US Supreme Court to dismiss an appeal against extradition by genocide suspect Elizaphan Ntakirutimana. African Rights says the court's decision to reject the retired pastor's appeal against
extradition from Texas where he now resides was "correct and important". The organisation, which has been investigating the case against Ntakirutimana since 1995, added that extradition "represents the only just course of action given the strength of the accusations". "Not only would it demonstrate clearly that the US will not be a haven for fugitives from
justice, but it would be an acknowledgement of the suffering of genocide survivors in Kibuye [western Rwanda], which the lengthy judicial process in Ntakirutimana's case has so far only served to prolong." African Rights said it had gathered solid evidence of the pastor's "central role" in massacres committed in Gishyita commune, Kibuye, during the 1994 genocide.
His trial would send a warning to genocide suspects all over the world that they may yet have to answer to the charges against them. The organisation urged the US, in considering whether now to extradite Ntakirutimana, "not to contradict and undermine the investment it has made in trying to promote justice in Rwanda and in supporting the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) in Arusha, Tanzania".