UK Extradition Cases 2008-17: Full Court judgments
There were four court extradition rulings made between 2008 and 2017 at Westminster Magistrates Court and at High Court appeals. Each judgment (pdf) gives some background on the prima facie cases against the five genocide suspects, as well as reasons why the extradition was approved (2008) or denied (2009, 2015, 2017).
Also included is the landmark 2012 European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruling that the Rwandan genocide suspect Ahorugeze could be safely extradited from Sweden to Rwanda; and details of the one case (Col. Tharcisse Muvunyi) that the UK authorities did act on – extraditing a genocide suspect to stand trial at the International Tribunal In Arusha, Tanzania after they were served with an international arrest warrant by the UN.
Westminster Magistrates Court: Extradition (1st case) Judgement 6 June 2008
High Court: Appeal (1st case) Judgement 8 April 2009
Westminster Magistrates Court: Extradition (2nd case) Judgment 22 Dec 2015
Westminster Mmagistrates Court: Extradition (2nd case) Judgment-appendix 22 Dec 2015
High Court: Appeal (2nd case) Judgement 28 July 2017
High Court: Appeal (2nd case) Judgment Press Release 28 July 2017
ECHR_CASE OF AHORUGEZE v. SWEDEN
Tharcisse Muvunyi
Col. Muvunyi was arrested on a warrant by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) by UK police in February 2000. He had arrived in the UK in March 1998 and was living with his family on benefits in Lewisham, south London. He was the first and only Rwandan to be extradited to the ICTR. He was later convicted after two trials for direct and public incitement to genocide and sentenced to 15 years imprisonment – confirmed by the Appeal Chamber on 1 April 2011. He was released in 2012 after having served 12 years of this sentence. Muvunyi died in Niger in 2022 while living at a UN-funded safe house while awaiting a visa to return to live in the UK.
The Guardian: ex army chief denies Rwanda genocide 8 Feb 2000
BBC: UK deports Rwanda genocide suspect 31 Oct 2000