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A Rwandan high court ruled on Wednesday in favour of a government demand to transfer a detained Belgian priest to his native country to stand trial on genocide charges.
"We have examined all the legal requirements and rule that the accused be relocated to his country to stand trial," Tharcisse Karugarama, president of Rwanda's High Court, said.
Roman Catholic priest Guy Theunis, 60, was arrested in September by Rwandan authorities for his alleged role in the 1994 genocide. He is accused of reprinting articles from an extremist publication - which incited Hutus to kill Tutsis - in a Catholic review he published.
He is also accused of masterminding killings in a church in Kigali, the capital. During the genocide thousands of Tutsis who sought sanctuary in churches were slaughtered.
Theunis told reporters after the hearing that he was "delighted and happy with the ruling".
An official in Rwanda's Ministry of Justice said Theunis was likely to return to Belgium at the weekend.
Theunis, who worked in Rwanda as a member of the White Fathers Catholic order from 1970 until 1994, is the first European to be arrested by Rwandan authorities for genocide. He is not, however, the first European to be charged in the killings. The tribunal sentenced Belgian journalist Georges Ruggiu to 12 years imprisonment in June 2000.
Several Rwandan priests and nuns have been convicted of participating in the genocide. This includes two nuns, who had sought exile in Belgium. They were convicted by a Brussels court in 2001.
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
