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MONTREAL, Feb 20 (AFP) - A brother-in-law of the president of Rwanda has been arrested in Montreal accused of making death threats to two exiled opponents of the African government, Montreal police confirmed Saturday.
Protais Zigiranyirazo, 55, was to be arraigned Saturday on charges that he threatened to kill Fidele Makombe, 31, and Jean-Paul Kimonyo, 28, two Rwanda-born residents of Montreal.
Police said Zigiranyirazo, the brother-in-law of President Juvenal Habyarimana, denied the accusations.
Although Zigiranyirazo carries a diplomatic passport, police said he does not enjoy diplomatic immunity because he is not registered as a diplomat with Canada's Department of External Affairs.
The charges allege Zigiranyirazo made the death threats on February 12 when he encountered a group of Rwandan demonstrators at the Montreal campus of the University of Quebec where he is writing a political science thesis.
On Friday a statement issued by Canada's External Affairs Minister Barbara McDougall expressed "indignation at the ethnic massacres perpetrated by militants and tolerated by a number of local authorities" in Rwanda.
At the same time McDougall urged the estimated 200 Canadians currently living in Rwanda to leave the country and recommended other Canadians not to travel there.
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1036 20Fev93 AFP AFP SEQN-0146
