wfn.org | Supreme Court Refuses to Hear Rwandan Pastor's Extradition Case

["Beckett, John" <BeckettJ@gc.adventist.org>]

ANN Bulletin
Adventist News Network
Seventh-day Adventist Church World Headquarters
January 25, 2000
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Supreme Court Refuses to Hear Rwandan Pastor's Extradition Case
Washington D.C. ... [ANN]

The United States Supreme Court has opened the way for the extradition of
Rwandan national Elizaphan Ntakirutimana to answer charges of genocide
before the United Nations war crimes tribunal for Rwanda.  Ntakirutimana,
75, a retired Seventh-day Adventist pastor, was a church leader in Rwanda
during the 1994 civil conflict in which an estimated 800,000 people were
killed.  He has been accused of collusion in the murder of a large group of
Tutsis taking shelter in an Adventist complex in Mugonero, western Rwanda. 

Adventist Church spokesperson Ray Dabrowski says that the Rwandan civil war
was a tragedy of staggering proportions.  "As a Church we preach a message
of compassion and reconciliation and reject violence in all its forms," he
says.  "For this reason, we must not overlook charges of violence against
humanity. The courts of justice are the appropriate forum for the resolution
of these allegations."  Dabrowski notes, however, that the legal presumption
of innocence must not be forgotten. "We pray for a speedy process and a just
outcome in this case," he says.  

Ntakirutimana, who had been living in retirement near Laredo, Texas since
leaving Rwanda in 1994, was indicted by the United Nations tribunal in June,
1996 and arrested in September of that year. Ntakirutimana continues to
maintain his innocence. 

On Monday, January 24, the Supreme Court refused, without comment, to hear
arguments that Ntakirutimana should not be deported because of the absence
of a formal extradition treaty between the United States and the United
Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. This was the final legal
step in Ntakirutimana's attempt to prevent his extradition to Arusha,
Tanzania, where the tribunal is based. The State Department must now decide
whether to proceed with Ntakirutimana's deportation and Secretary of State
Madeleine Albright has indicated that she will review the case.

The Adventist Church is a prominent Christian denomination in Rwanda with
more than 350,000 members and an active educational and healthcare work
throughout the country. [Bettina Krause]

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