On July 8, 2005, Canadian Justice Minister Irwin Cotler stated that Rwandan war crimes suspect Leon Mugesera would not be extradited unless Canada received binding promises that he would not face the death penalty if convicted. A month earlier, the Canadian Supreme Court ruled that Mugesera must be deported out of Canada after being accused of inciting genocide. In 1992, Mugesera gave a speech in Rwanda encouraging Hutus to kill Tutsis, which was determined to have been a crime against humanity. On January 4, 2012, the Canadian government deported Mugesera, after a Quebec Superior Court judge ruled that the court did not have jurisdiction to rule on immigration cases. Rwanda abolished the death penalty in July 2007.

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