Canada moves nearer to deporting Rwandan accused of genocide

Jan 23, 2012, 19:45 GMT

Montreal - Leon Mugesera, who is accused of inciting genocide in Rwanda, was one step closer to being deported to his native country Monday after losing a last-ditch legal effort to stay in Canada.

The Quebec Superior Court rejected arguments by Mugesera's legal team to delay his deportation until the United Nations committee against torture completes an investigation into the possibility of abuse if Mugesera were returned to Rwanda.

Justice Michel Delorme ruled that Mugesera's case was beyond the jurisdiction of his provincial court, which last week had put on hold a deportation ruling by Canada's Federal Court.

Monday's ruling opened the way for Canadian federal authorities to deport Mugesera, who has been held at an immigration detention centre in Montreal, as early as Monday afternoon.

Mugesera is wanted in Rwanda on charges that he helped incite the 1994 genocide. Ottawa has been trying to deport him for almost 16 years. But Mugesera argues that he will face persecution if he returns to Rwanda, and not receive a fair trial.

His lawyers said Monday they had applied for another stay of deportation with Canada's Federal Court.

Mugesera, 59, arrived in Canada in 1993 with his wife and five children and was granted permanent residence status.

They had fled Rwanda in 1992 after an arrest warrant was issued for Mugesera, who had made a speech allegedly inciting the majority Hutus to kill the minority Tutsis.

In his speech, Mugesera called Rwandan Tutsis 'cockroaches' and 'scum,' and encouraged fellow Hutus to kill them.

That speech was later broadcast at the height of the 1994 genocide, which claimed the lives of more than 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus.

Mugesera was ordered deported in 1996, after it was discovered he had lied on his application form, which asked whether he'd been involved in the commission of a crime against humanity.

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