The High Court in Nairobi has halted the extradition of Célestin Ntarwanda, a Rwandan national accused of involvement in the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, ruling that his refugee status in Kenya was wrongfully revoked.
The decision, delivered on October 8, 2025, nullified a 2017 ruling by Kenya’s Refugee Appeals Board (RAB) which had stripped Ntarwanda of his refugee status granted in 2008.
The Board’s earlier decision followed a request from the Commissioner for Refugee Affairs, who accused Ntarwanda of concealing key information about his background and misleading authorities during his asylum application.
Rwanda’s Office of the Prosecutor General had in April 2015 submitted a formal extradition request to Kenya, seeking to have Ntarwanda arrested and sent to Kigali to face prosecution.
He is accused of participating in mass killings of Tutsi civilians in Musanze (former Ruhengeri Prefecture) during the Genocide against the Tutsi.
Investigations by Rwandan prosecutors allege that Ntarwanda, also known as Edouard Nsengimana, was directly involved in the murder of about 300 Tutsi who were sheltering at the Ruhengeri Court of Appeal in April 1994. He is also said to have removed ten Tutsi survivors from Ruhengeri Hospital, who were later killed.
Following the revocation of his refugee status, Ntarwanda challenged the RAB’s ruling, claiming that the decision was based on procedural irregularities and lacked substantial evidence. His appeal was initially rejected in May 2021, prompting him to escalate the matter to the High Court.
In its latest judgment, the court ruled that the Refugee Appeals Board had failed to verify whether credible evidence existed linking Ntarwanda to the genocide crimes before withdrawing his refugee status.
It also found that the decision-making process violated legal procedure since two Board members who voted on the ruling had not attended earlier hearings.
The High Court consequently overturned the 2017 ruling and ordered the full restoration of Ntarwanda’s refugee status in Kenya, effectively blocking his extradition to Rwanda.
The ruling adds a new twist to Rwanda’s long-standing efforts to bring genocide fugitives to justice, as it raises complex questions about the balance between refugee protection and accountability for international crimes.
