Kigali: Rwanda is shocked by a French appeals court ruling that freed two Rwandans indicted by Kigali and an international court over the country's 1994 genocide, and its foreign minister called the decision absurd yesterday.
"We are shocked and surprised by the decision. Going ahead to release such suspects accused of the biggest crimes like genocide is absurd," Rwandan Foreign Minister Charles Murigande said.
Rwanda had sought the extradition of Roman Catholic priest Wenceslas Munyeshyaka and another man, Laurent Bucyibaruta. But the court ruled on Wednesday the indictments violated the presumption of innocence.
"They claim the warrants had defects in writing, but we believe they should have held them while the mistakes in the warrants were sorted out," Murigande said in Kigali.
The two suspects were detained last month because of the indictments from Rwanda and the Tanzania-based International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, which is prosecuting top architects of the genocide.
Their release came shortly after French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said he would probably visit Rwanda "very soon" in a move that would signal a thaw in relations after Kigali cancelled diplomatic ties with Paris last year.
The French Foreign Ministry said it hoped the ruling would not damage improving relations between the two countries.
