08 August 2006

Genocidaires Still in Suburbia

Genocidaires in Suburbia also refers. According to today’s Guardian, Amnesty International is urging the attorney general to prosecute two Rwandan genocide suspects living in Britain. Secretary general, Irene Khan, has written to the attorney general, Lord Goldsmith, expressing "grave concern" that the government has failed to take any action against two men who are among the top 100 Rwandan genocide suspects at large and living in Europe.

Charles Munyaneza, 48, was granted asylum in Britain in 2000 and lives with his family in a semi detached house in Putnoe, Bedford. Celestin Ugirashebuja, 55, lives in Walton on the Naze, Essex. Both were mayors of towns in southern Rwanda during the 1994 genocide, and are accused by the Rwandan prosecutor general of organising and directing the killings in their provinces. They both deny the charges.

Had they been investigated when they first arrived in the UK in 2000, the men could have been sent for trial to the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) in Tanzania. However, the tribunal has now been instructed by the UN security council to complete all trials by 2008.

Ms Khan said the British government should put appropriate legislation in place so as to be able to prosecute in this country in line with the UK's international obligations There are precedents for the UK to prosecute such suspects: last year an Afghan warlord, Faryadi Sarwar Zardad, 42, was convicted at the Old Bailey of taking hostages and robbing, beating, and shooting civilians at a checkpoint in Afghanistan 10 years ago.





2 comments:

jams o donnell said...

You wont hear me disagree mullets. I thought the UN response to events in Rwanda were a disgrace.

Agnes said...

Mullet: nobody. You got it right./ And I doubt many would in the Middle east; oh, internet forums, those are different, many heroes there.