Suburban genocidaires in extradition hearings.

My earlier posts Genocidaires in Suburbia, Genocidaires Still in Suburbia and Genocidaires no Longer in Suburbia? also refer. Today’s Guardian reports that the four Rwandans Charles Munyaneza, Celestin Ugirashebuja, Emmanuel Nteziryayo and Dr Vincent Bajinya, are currently contesting extradition to Rwanda.

Of the four, the charges against Bayinja appear to be the most serious. Yesterday Westminster Magistrate court head that Bajinya was a member of the governing MRND party, and present at a key 1993 meeting in a stadium in Kigali at which the anti-Tutsi "Hutu Power" movement was said to have been born. "He played a high-profile role in that meeting, being the master of ceremonies," said James Lewis, representing the Rwandan government. "The primary purpose of that meeting was to encourage Hutus to dissociate themselves from the enemy."

Bayinja is then alleged to have attended a series of "genocide meetings" in Kigali and become a leader in the Interahamwe militia. He set up roadblocks in the Rugenge area of Kigali, ordering the militia to kill anyone they suspected of being a Tutsi. Court papers allege that in one incident a man called Leandre, suspected of being a Tutsi, was brought to a roadblock where Bajinya was allegedly giving orders. Bajinya is accused of ordering the militia to "cut Leandre into pieces so that he would not recover". Bajinya also, allegedly, led a party to a house where a Tutsi woman was taking refuge with her two-month-old baby, the papers show. After the baby was killed, Dr Bajinya is accused of personally interrogating the woman about where her fellow inyenzi (cockroaches) were before a militia man shot her dead.

Charles Munyaneza was bourgmestre (mayor) of the Kinyamakara commune, the court heard. Mr Lewis said: "He organised the training of the Interahamwe militias, he instituted and supervised road blocks established to identify Tutsis from the identity cards which separated ethnic groups. "Once the Tutsis were identified they were killed by the Interahamwe." Emmanuel Nteziryayo,was bourgmestre of the Mudasomwa commune, and allegedly handed out weapons, oversaw roadblocks and once drove Tutsis to a police station to be killed. Ugirashebuja, was bourgmestre of the Kigoma commune. He is also accused of organising road blocks, urging Hutus to kill Tutsis and distributing guns.