Ottawa, January 19th, 2012,

HUMURA, the Canadian Association representing Tutsi Genocide Survivors in the National Capital Region, wishes to bring the following to the attention of the Canadian public:

HUMURA welcomes the decision to deport Mr Léon Mugesera back to Rwanda. We reiterate our full support to the Canadian Border Services Agency in its effort to implement the Canadian Government’s decision.

It is HUMURA’s hope that the delays caused by Mr Mugesera’s last minute appeal to the United Nations Committee Against Torture will be overturned, allowing the Canadian Government to implement its decision without further delay.

HUMURA wishes to remind the Canadian public that on June 25th, 2005, the Supreme Court of Canada had ruled that ‘there were reasonable motives to believe that Mr Mugesera had committed a crime against humanity and as such, was not welcome in Canada, pursuant to articles 27 (1) and 19 (1) of the Immigration Act.

HUMURA also wishes to remind Canadians that Mr Mugesera is subject to an arrest warrant issued by the Government of Rwanda 20 years ago, following a hate speech delivered in 1992 at Kabaya, which was immediately followed by the massacre of his Tutsi fellow citizens in the Kibirira area.

HUMURA notes that Mr Mugesera has exhausted all the legal recourses under the Canadian justice system, and that the Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that ‘the deportation order of July 11th, 1996 against Mr Mugesea was valid’.

We inform fellow Canadians that the allegations of risks of torture raised by Mr Mugesera and his friends are baseless, and that the legal and diplomatic guaranties provided by the Government of Rwanda are quite reliable. We wish to remind the public that on July 25th, 2007, Rwanda officially abolished capital punishment and on December 15th, 2008, ratified the Convention against Torture and Other Crual, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment.

HUMURA would like to inform the Canadian public that in a case similar to Mugesera’s, the European Court of Human Rights has just ruled that the extradition of Mr Sylvère Ahorugeze to be tried in Rwanda did not raise any judicial concerns.

We also remind Canadians that on June 28th, 2011, the judges of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) decided to send to Rwanda the first of the genocide suspects whose trials had not started, so that he may be tried in Rwanda. The decision came into effect this week, with the transfer of the case to Rwanda’s Public Prosecutor.

Similarly, the United-States of America recently extradited Mr Jean-Marie Vianney Mudahinyuka and Mrs Marie-Claire Mukeshimana, two Rwandese citizens suspected of genocide, to be tried in Rwanda.

For Humura, Mr Mugesera’s trial on the Rwandese territory where the suspected crime was committed, is beneficial to the Rwandese society, as part of the policy to fight impunity, a scourge that had become a practice in Rwanda and played a decisive role in the mobilization against the Tutsi during the 1994 genocide.

It is reassuring to learn that Rwanda is committed to call to witness the International Committee of the Red Cross regarding the conditions of Mr Mugesera’s eventual incarceration, in order to monitor the alleged risks of torture by the suspect and his friends.

HUMURA notes that the Government of Rwanda is committed to providing Mr Mugesera with a fair, just, equitable and transparent trial, and that he will be allowed to choose his own defense lawyer.

Finally, Mr Mugesera’s deportation to Rwanda is a clear message to all the criminals of the world that Canada is not a safe heaven for those who committed crimes in their countries of origin.

For all the reasons provided above, we reiterate our support to the Canadian Government’s decision to deport Mr Mugesera back to Rwanda as soon as possible.

Alain Ntwali

President, HUMURA