The former prefect Bucyibaruta and Father Munyeshyaka were arrested on the request of the international Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR).
The two men, arrested in the areas of Rouen and Rheims, must appear within the next five days before a magistrate in Paris.
On 20 June, the ICTR Prosecutor, Hassan Bubacar Jallow (Gambia), had requested that the French government arrest the two men and hold them until the tribunal ruled on the transfer of their cases to France.
France gave its consent last June to try them under the terms of the law of adaptation of the ICTR statute, integrated in May 1996 into the French penal code. It gives universal jurisdiction to French courts to try Rwandans suspected of genocide or crimes against humanity, if they live in France.
Munyeshyaka and Bucyibaruta have another case to answer in France. They are investigated for complicity in genocide following a complaint made by survivors.
A catholic priest and a Hutu, Wenceslas Munyeshyaka had seen himself entrusted in 1997 with a ministry in Andelys (Eure). Since 2001, he has been a priest for the parishes of Gisors and the Epte Valley.
Laurent Bucyibaruta, former prefect of Gikongoro (southern Rwanda), was arrested close to Troyes, where he was living.
PAS/MM/AT
© Hirondelle News Agency
