THE HAGUE, Dec 20 – Judges at the International Criminal Court on Tuesday rejected an appeal by its chief prosecutor to keep Rwandan rebel leader Callixte Mbarushimana behind bars.
“The appeal of the prosecutor… for the stay of order to release Callixte Mbarushimana is inadmissible and dismissed,” the appeals chamber of The Hague-based court said in its ruling.
Mbarushimana, 48, spent a nearly a year in detention in The Hague facing on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity before ICC judges Friday dropped charges against him on the grounds of insufficient evidence.
The crimes were allegedly committed by Mbarushimana’s rebel Democratic Forces of the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo in 2009.
ICC chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo on Monday appealed an earlier decision to reject his request to keep Mbarushimana behind bars and the decision to drop the charges.
Mbarushimana has asked to be returned to France upon his release, his lawyer Arthur Vercken told AFP.
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