MONTREAL - Rwanda's chief prosecutor says a Quebec court's decision to delay the deportation of a man accused of helping incite genocide is a "stinging insult'' to survivors.
A Quebec Superior Court judge ordered a one-week stay in the deportation of Leon Mugesera yesterday _ the day he was due to be removed from Canada.
Rwandan Prosecutor-General Martin Ngoga said in a statement today the Canadian government should proceed with Mugesera's deportation despite the 11th-hour court order.
Mugesera's lawyers went to court after expressing fears the Quebec City resident could face torture if he's deported to the African country.
The Quebec court decision aims to give Mugesera's legal team more time to argue that Ottawa must allow a United Nations committee to investigate the risk of torture in Rwanda before he's deported.
But Ngoga says the torture argument is "cynical and baseless'' because the UN has already recognized that his country's human-rights record has vastly improved.
A university professor and one-time Rwandan political operative, Mugesera faces criminal charges related to a 1992 speech he gave that allegedly helped incite the Rwandan genocide.
Mugesera was hospitalized on Wednesday for an unspecified illness shortly after a Federal Court ruled against his last-ditch effort to stay in Canada.
He has lived in Canada for the last 19 years.
