Rwandan President Paul Kagame

RWANDA. SENATE APPROVES DEATH PENALTY ABOLITION

July 10, 2007: the Rwandan Senate approved a bill to abolish the death penalty, according to reports by Radio Rwanda.
The bill, proposed last year by Rwandan President Paul Kagame with the support of his party and passed by the lower house of parliament last month, is expected to come into force by the end of July. The abolition of the death penalty may encourage other countries to extradite defendants facing trial for the 1994 Rwandan genocide back to Rwanda.
The measure was unanimously approved by all members present. The Rwandan genocide saw almost a million people murdered over a time span of 100 days. Many countries, including Tanzania, the current site of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), have refused to extradite suspects while Rwanda's death penalty remains in effect. Following last month's action by the lower house of parliament, ICTR began the process of transferring one genocide case to Rwanda. (Sources: Jurist, 11/07/2007)