MONTREAL - A federal court judge will decide on Thursday if an alleged war criminal should stay in Canada or be sent back to his native Rwanda.
Leon Mugesera has fought for nearly 16 years to remain here.
The Rwandan academic is accused of helping to incite Rwanda's genocide by delivering a 1992 speech that promoted the killing of ethnic Tutsis.
Months after he'd left in 1994, Hutu-backed militias led a 100-day massacre of Tutsis and Hutu, killing as many as one-million people.
A lawyer for the Quebec City man made a last-ditch legal plea yesterday to keep Mugesera on Canadian soil.
Lawyer Johanne Doyon is seeking a judicial review and a delay of Thursday's scheduled expulsion.
Doyon argued that a refugee claimant like Mugesera should not be deported unless he's been convicted or is a threat to Canada.
Canada has been reluctant to deport Mugesera in the past because he could have faced the death penalty in Rwanda.
However, Rwanda dropped the death penalty for convicted war criminals in 2007.
