Charles Munyaneza, represented by Kaly Kaul of Dyers Chambers, was accused of taking part in the Rawandan genocide.  He was set free after the High Court ruled he would be at risk of a miscarriage of justice if he faced trial in Rwanda.

The High Court judgment is the first time an English court had blocked an extradition request from a foreign government on the grounds that it would violate Article 6 of the European convention on human rights, which safeguards the right to a fair trial.

Mr Munyaneza and three other men were accused of killing, or conspiring with or aiding and abetting others, to kill members of the Tutsi ethnic group "with the intent to destroy in whole, or in part, that group". The men, all Hutus, denied participating in the genocide, in which 800,000 people died.

Lord Justice Laws and Lord Justice Sullivan expressed concern over the "impartiality and independence" of the Rwandan judiciary after hearing that defence witnesses were afraid to give evidence for fear of being accused of "genocide minimisation". They also ruled there was a real risk of "executive interference with the judiciary".

The judges quashed extradition orders issued by the home secretary in August 2008 against the men, who were arrested in December 2006. "When one adds all the particular evidence we have described touching the [Rwandan] justice system, we are driven to conclude that if these appellants were returned there would be a real risk that they would suffer a flagrant denial of justice," the judges concluded.