Rwanda has criticized Switzerland's refusal to extradite former Rwandan Minister for Environment, Gaspard Ruhumuriza, wanted by the justice of his country for his alleged role in the 1994 genocide, reports Hirondelle Agency.

Quoting Rwanda's Prosecutor General, Martin Ngoga, Izuba Rirashe (The Rising Sun), a tri-weekly newspaper, reported Monday that the source of the refusal was the position of the judges of the Arusha-based International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), trying key suspects of the 1994 genocide, who have constantly rejected the UN Court's Prosecutor's requests to transfer some of the accused to Kigali to face trials.

The judges have rejected the applications on grounds that the suspects may not get a fair trial in Rwanda.

Bern announced its refusal last week because of strong human rights code in place.

However, Rwanda has the possibility of requesting Switzerland to try Ruhumuriza for criminal prosecution.

Ngoga added that ICTR's continued transfer rejections only served as a pretext for certain countries "to refuse to send us persons accused of participation in the genocide perpetrated against ethnic Tutsis"

Ruhumuriza is wanted by the Rwandan authorities for genocide and war crimes and he is the subject of a wanted notice on the Interpol website.