Court Opinion

ID: 9413922
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-01 23:30:00.484431+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T16:46:50.089217
License: Public Domain

ROBERT M. PARKER, Circuit Judge,
writing separately, specially concurring.
Judge Garza has crafted for the panel a well-written opinion that faithfully adheres to controlling jurisprudence, and thereby has earned my concurrence. I write separately and briefly to invite the Secretary to closely scrutinize the underlying evidence as she makes her decision regarding whether Ntakirutimana should be surrendered to the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. The evidence supporting the request is highly suspect. Affidavits of unnamed Tutsi witnesses acquired during interviews utilizing questionable interpreters in a political environment that has all *431the earmarks of a campaign of tribal retribution raises serious questions regarding the truth of their content.
It defies logic, and thereby places in question the credibility of the underlying evidence, that a man who has served his church faithfully for many years, who has never been accused of any law infraction, who has for his long life been a man of peace, and who is married to a Tutsi would somehow suddenly become a man of violence and commit the atrocities for which he stands accused. I fully understand that the ultimate decision in this case may well be a political one that is driven by important considerations of State that transcend the question of guilt or innocence of any single individual. I respect the political process that necessarily is implicated in this case, just as I respect the fact that adherence to precedent compels my concurrence.
To the extent that it may be relevant to the Secretary’s decision, I merely add, based on all the information in this record, viewed from the perspective of a judge who has served fifteen years on the trial bench and five years on the court of appeals, that I am persuaded that it is more likely than not that Ntakirutimana is actually innocent.