Rwandan case in higher court
2004-02-20 09:27
Montreal - The Canadian Supreme Court Thursday agreed to hear the case of a Rwandan man accused of inciting genocide after a lower court dismissed the charge.
Immigration officials asked the high court to try Leon Mugesera, a Montreal resident, after the lower court found nothing to show that "Mugesera deliberately, under various guises, incited death, hatred and genocide," in a controversial 1992 speech in Rwanda.
Others say that Mugesera, now a member of the National Revolutionary Movement for Development (NRND), called for the Tutsi genocide, which took place in 1994.
Mugesera, a Hutu, considered to be close to former Rwandan president Juvenal Habyarimana, arrived in Quebec in 1993 with his wife and five children as a political refugee.
However, Canadian authorities ordered his expulsion in 1996, saying he lied about his past. He has since struggled to stay in Canada.
In 2000, Rwanda's ambassador to Canada, Laurent Nkongoli, said Rwandans want Mugesera to be tried for crimes against humanity, preferably in Rwanda."