No extradition for ex-Rwandan magistrate

VERSAILLES, France, Jan. 10 (UPI) -- A French court refused Tuesday to order the extradition of a former Rwandan magistrate suspected of genocide who is now a French citizen.

Manasse Bigwenzare, whose lawyer says he left Rwanda soon after the 1994 slaughter began, now lives in a retirement home near Paris. He said the charges against him are "a lie," Radio France Internationale reported.

A judge with the Court of Appeal in Versailles not only refused to grant the extradition request but freed Bigwenzare from restrictions placed on him after his arrest in June.

Bigwenzare became a French citizen in 2010. Gilles Paruelle, a lawyer representing the Rwandan government, says he lied to get refugee treatment in France and said Rwanda might try to have his citizenship overturned.