The Rwanda Supreme Court in its special chamber declared itself competent to preside over Léon Mugesera’s case, dismissing an application by the accused who alleged the incompetence of the said Court to try his case.
This was revealed Monday during the hearing on the merits of the genocide trial of Leon Mugesera deported from Canada.
December 17, Mugesera had challenged the temporal jurisdiction of the Special Chamber before which he appears, established to prosecute cases referred by foreign courts and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR).
He argues that this Court has no jurisdiction, as the ICTR was established for trial of crimes committed between 1 January 1994 and 31 December 1994, when the facts alleged against him dating back to 1992.
His lawyer also said that Rwanda and Canada agreed that Mugesera would be tried under this law, and that any other decision would be discrimination and a violation of this agreement.
Academic and former politician in Rwanda, Mugesera is tried for an anti-Tutsi speech delivered in 1992 that prosecutors considered as a trigger of the 1994 genocide.
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