KIGALI – A French public hospital has suspended a Rwandan doctor who was convicted on genocide charges back home, after a protest by a Rwandan government commission.
Dr Charles Twagira started working at the Paul Doumer Hospital outside Paris last month, and the Rwandan National Commission for the Fight against Genocide issued a protest on Monday, saying his hiring trivialises the 1994 Rwandan genocide in which 800, 000 people were killed.
In a statement, the hospital said it only learned of the accusations against Twagira a week after he started working there.
Twagira has denied any wrongdoing on his part. His lawyer, Arthur Vercken, said the Rwandan case against Twagira was politically motivated and driven by a government that is “using genocide investigations for political ends”.
“What is wrong… If a person who is under preliminary charges and presumed innocent gets a job while he is preparing his defence?” asked Vercken. “He’s a good doctor. That’s it.”
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