Top Dutch court says Rwandan genocide suspect cannot be extradited

THE HAGUE (Reuters) - The Dutch supreme court on Tuesday ruled that a man facing charges of genocide and crimes against humanity for his alleged role in the 1994 Rwandan genocide should not be extradited to Rwanda because it cannot be guaranteed his trial will be fair.

In its judgment the Supreme Court confirmed a lower court ruling of November last year that said extradition to Rwanda risked "a flagrant infringement of the right to a fair trial" for Pierre-Claver Karangwa because he is an opposition politician.

The Dutch authorities, who have extradited at least three Rwandan genocide suspects to stand trial in Kigali since 2016, had appealed that decision but that appeal was denied by the Supreme Court.

Karangwa, a former military official in his sixties, is accused of having a key role in the massacres of nearly 30,000 Tutsis in the Mugina parish near the Rwandan capital of Kigali in April 1994.

An estimated 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and Hutu moderates were killed during Rwanda's genocide, orchestrated by an extremist Hutu regime and meticulously executed by local officials and ordinary citizens in the rigidly hierarchical society.

Karangwa has already had his Dutch nationality revoked over the genocide accusations. He is now in a legal limbo where he is officially not wanted in the Netherlands but cannot be extradited.

(Reporting by Stephanie van den Berg; Editing by Christina Fincher)