Rwandan genocide suspect remains in Swedish custody

A Rwandan genocide suspect who has been jailed in Sweden without trial since July 2008 must remain in protective custody, the Supreme Court in Stockholm ruled Tuesday, turning down the man's request to be set free.
By Thijs Bouwknegt
"The Supreme Court ... confirms the lower court decision" that Sylvere Ahorugeze should remain in custody, the court said in its ruling.
The 54-year-old Rwandan is suspected of having been one of the leaders of the Hutu extremists involved in genocide and stands accused of murdering 28 Tutsis in a suburb of Kigali on 7 April 1994.
Ahorugeze was arrested in Stockholm in July 2008 after visiting the Rwandan embassy in Sweden. A Swedish court subsequently ordered him to remain in custody pending a request for extradition by Rwanda on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity. 
Sweden decided a year later to send Ahorugeze back to Rwanda, but suspended the extradition following a request by the European Court of Human Rights, amid concerns over the central African nation's rights record and the independence of its judiciary.
In his appeal of the Stockholm district court's decision to keep him in custody, Ahorugeze demanded that proof be presented that he had already been found guilty in Rwanda of plundering, among other things.
He also complained that his long incarceration without trial was excessive.
The Swedish Supreme Court said yesterday it had turned down Ahorugeze's request for an oral hearing and said it had been informed the European rights court would hear his complaint before the end of the year.
Sylvère Ahorugeze, a Rwandan national and former director of the Rwandan Civil Aviation Authority and of Kigali international airport, legally resided in Denmark since the end of the genocide. Under an Interpol arrest warrant, the Rwandan government accused Ahorugeze of war crimes and genocide.
In the absence of an extradition agreement between Rwanda and Denmark, Ahorugeze was arrested in September 2006 under Danish law which allows for the prosecution of genocide suspects resident in Denmark, charged with killing Tutsi civilians. After nearly a year in custody, Ahorugeze was released and awarded damages when a Danish prosecutor dropped the case due to lack of evidence.