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MONTREAL, March 20 (AFP) - The brother-in-law of Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana must be allowed to leave Canada, even though he faces charges of making death threats against two Rwandan exiles here, a judge has ruled.
Judge Claire Barrette-Joncas ruled Friday that officials must return Protais Zigiranyirazo's diplomatic passport, allowing him to leave Canada, but ordered him to pay 50,000-dollar (39,000 U.S.) in bail, which she said should ensure that he is present for his trial, scheduled for July 12.
A former Rwandan government official, Zigiranyirazo was named for alleged abuses in a report published last month by four human rights groups in the United States and Belgium.
The report charged that Zigiranyirazo took part in a 1991 meeting in Rwanda during which government leaders allegedly planned a massacre of some 1,000 people.
The president of an association of Rwandans in Canada, Jean Kamanzi, criticized the ruling. "I very much doubt that we'll see him back here again," said Kamanzi.
"Canada has lost an opportunity to investigate this man's crimes and judge him for them," he said. His organization had hoped Zigiranyirazo would be charged with crimes against humanity in Canada, and be tried for them here.
The government of Habyarimana, who hails from Rwanda's majority Hutu tribe, has been fighting the rebel Rwanadan Patriotic Front since October 1990.
The rebel group draws support from the Tutsi minority.
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AFP AFP SEQN-0357
