Rwandan man's deportation postponed
Jean Berchmans Habinshuti has made a last-ditch plea to the new Liberal government to stop his deportation to Rwanda where he faces genocide-related charges.
A Rwandan man facing genocide-related charges has had his deportation pushed back by a week amidst a last-ditch plea to the new Liberal government to intervene.
By: Nicholas Keung Immigration reporter, Published on Mon Nov 09 2015
A Rwandan man facing genocide-related charges has had his deportation pushed back by a week amidst a last-ditch plea to the new Liberal government to intervene. Jean Berchmans Habinshuti, 60, was set to be deported to Rwanda on Monday but Canada Border Services Agency told the inmate at Lindsay provincial jail over the weekend that his deportation has been rescheduled to Nov. 16 with no explanation, said his lawyer Raoul Boulakia.
Border officials have denied his plea to remain here despite affidavits from expert witnesses – academic André Guichaoua who has testified at international tribunals, former Rwandan prime minister Faustin Twagiramungu and human rights activist René Mugenzi – that he’s innocent. “Every expert who has commented on this case states it is clear Mr. Habinshuti served an official who was killed for being opposed to the genocide,” said Boulakia, who has asked Immigration Minister John McCallum’s office for a reprieve.
Habinshuti served as private secretary to the late Rwandan prime minister Agathe Uwilingiyimana. He joined his wife and family in St. Catharines in 2011 and later filed an asylum claim. Although he never faced war crime charges, Ottawa deemed him inadmissible for his ties to the regime.
Over three months in 1994, an estimated one million Rwandans perished in attacks mostly aimed at the minority Tutsi population by extremist Hutus. Canada Border Services Agency officials declined to comment on Habinshuti’s case or explain the reason for the deferral of his deportation.
Source : http://www.thestar.com