Habyarimana case: French justice must rule on the validity of the dismissal

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An important judicial step in the investigation into the attack on the plane of President Habyarimana, considered to be the trigger of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. The Court of Appeal of Paris must say this Friday, July 3 whether or not it confirms the dismissal pronounced at the end of 2018 for seven Rwandans, close to the Paul Kagame camp, indicted in this procedure for more than 20 years.

Publicity

Judicial information for "assassinations and complicity in connection with a terrorist enterprise" had been opened in France in 1998, following a complaint filed by families of the French crew.

In December 2018, the examining magistrates explained their decision to classify the procedure by stressing "  the absence of indisputable material elements  " and the "  largely contradictory or unverifiable  " nature of the testimony. Relatives of the victims of the attack then appealed to this dismissal.

Last January , before the investigating chamber, their lawyers had argued that the file was sufficiently solid as it stood to justify a trial, or that failing that, additional information should be granted so that justice can obtain a confidential report from the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda dating from 2003 and, in their view, can substantiate the accusation.

The public prosecutor's office, like the defense, had asked for confirmation that the charges had been dropped. To decide, in this complex and sensitive matter, the room had given itself 6 months. His decision will be made in camera.

Several scenarios are possible. If the dismissal is confirmed: the civil parties can then appeal to the Court of Cassation to contest this decision; it should also be known that dismissal does not necessarily close a case definitively, the public prosecutor may decide to reopen it, even much later, provided that new elements justify it.

If on the contrary the magistrates do not confirm the dismissal, they can decide to relaunch the investigation or to send some or all the suspects to trial before the assizes, on the basis of the current file.

Diplomatic muddle and political issues

Since its opening in 1998, this procedure has poisoned diplomatic relations between Paris and Kigali, against the background of a debate on French responsibilities at the time. At the time, Kigali took a dim view of the turn taken by the instruction given to judge Bruguière, whom she accused of investigating only the prosecution against the RPF of Paul Kagame. The already fragile Franco-Rwandan relationship falters.

And it was in 2006 that the rupture was completed, when Judge Bruguière issued arrest warrants against nine Rwandans close to Paul Kagame. In response: Kigali breaks off diplomatic relations with Paris. The quarrel lasts 3 years. Meanwhile, Rwanda launches its counter-offensive.

In 2008, a report was published in Kigali implicating several French officials for their supposed complicity in the genocide. In the process, Kigali also announces that English will replace French as the language of instruction.

Since then, the relationship between the two countries has fluctuated over the course of the survey. Under Nicolas Sarkozy it experienced in 2010 a period of warming in favor of the replacement of judge Bruguière by judge Trévidic and the opening of legal proceedings in France against several suspected genocidaires. But the thinning was short-lived.

The reopening of the investigation into the 2016 attack is seen in Kigali as a new affront. Since 2015 France has no longer had an ambassador in the country. Could the decision of the court of appeal expected today undermine the new rapprochement started since the election of Emmanuel Macron? "  Wanting to reopen a classified file is to want to create problems,  " in any case recently warned the Rwandan president to our colleagues from Jeune Afrique .

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