Canada's ill-equipped legal system feeding reputation as war-criminal haven

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http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5iwJr5mS6mIaNF9gmRV7KFHXoAWBw

MONTREAL (CP) — War criminals on the lam are sheltered from international justice by Canada's lumbering, ineffective legal system, charges a former intelligence analyst in the RCMP war crimes unit.

Canada has been a popular destination for those fleeing recent conflicts in the Balkans and Rwanda, but former intelligence officials and international lawyers question whether Ottawa has the resources to weed out those ducking prosecution.

"If I were working as a consultant for war criminals, what I would tell them is that Canada is probably the best place to go in terms of avoiding prosecution and in terms of avoiding deportation," Tom Quiggin, an ex-intelligence analyst for the war crimes units of both the RCMP and Citizenship and Immigration, told The Canadian Press.

Rwandan officials maintain that five accused ring leaders of the Rwandan genocide are at large in Canada. One of them, Leon Mugesera, is facing a deportation order. Rwanda has sent extradition requests and arrest warrants for him and the others.

Quiggin, who also served as an intelligence analyst for the International War Crimes Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, says the number of suspected modern war criminals in Canada reaches well into the thousands.