Vincent Murekezi wants case in Constitutional Court
The High Court in Lilongwe will this week make a ruling on whether to refer the extradition case involving Rwandan genocide suspect, Vincent Murekezi, to the Constitutional Court or not.
Lawyers representing Murekezi are challenging the use of an Extradition Treaty which Malawi and Rwanda signed in February this year.
On Friday when the lawyers appeared before the court to make the plea, Judge Ruth Chinangwa said the court will decide on the issue in the next seven days.
One of the defence lawyers, Gift Katundu, said any legislation has to be laid before Parliament before it is used in the country.
“We are challenging their use of the treaty which essentially was just a document signed by the ministers of Malawi and Rwanda and then brought back to court. But we all know under Section 211 of the Constitution that any legislation has to be laid before Parliament. That is any treaty or any agreement between countries before it is used as a law of Malawi,” he said.
On February 14 this year, Principal Resident Magistrate, Patrick Chirwa, dismissed the matter as Rwanda was not a designated country for extradition.
Chirwa told the State to consider rectifying the anomaly before taking the matter to court again.
On February 21 this year, the governments of Malawi and Rwanda signed the Extradition Treaty to facilitate easy transfer and extradition of nationals suspected to be in conflict with the law in their respective countries of origin.
The State wants to extradite Murekezi, who is suspected to have taken part in the Rwandan genocide of 1994.
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