Highlights: The Paris Court of Appeal annulled the dismissal order issued in the investigation into the inaction alleged against the French army during the Bisesero massacres at the end of June 1994. The dismissal rendered in September 2022 in this sensitive case was canceled on Wednesday, June 21, 2023. It is up to them to decide whether the 5 general officers involved should be tried. The associations Survie and Ibuka, the International Federation for Human Rights and six survivors accuse the soldiers of Operation Turquoise of knowingly abandoning the Tutsi refugees.

New twist in one of the most sensitive judicial cases related to the genocide in Rwanda: the Paris Court of Appeal canceled Wednesday, June 21 the dismissal order rendered in the investigation...

Genocide in Rwanda: French justice annuls the dismissal of the investigation into the Bisesero massacres

A new twist in one of the most sensitive judicial cases related to the genocide in Rwanda: the Paris Court of Appeal on Wednesday 21 June annulled the dismissal order issued in the investigation into the inaction alleged against the French army during the Bisesero massacres at the end of June 1994.

A view of the entrance to the memorial to the Bisesero massacre committed during the genocide of the Tutsis in Rwanda. © SIMON WOHLFAHRT/AFP

Text by: RFI Follow

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Will the French army be tried for failing to rescue Tutsis during the massacres in Bisesero, Rwanda, in June 1994? The dismissal rendered in September 2022 in this sensitive case was canceled on Wednesday, June 21, 2023 by the Paris Court of Appeal, but only for a procedural issue.

It is a question of form that led the Paris Court of Appeal to annul the order of dismissal of September 1, 2022. A few months earlier, a summary of the Duclert report which highlighted the "profound failure" of the France in Bisesero was added to the investigation file at the request of one of the magistrates in charge of the case. The investigations - completed since the summer of 2018 - are thus relaunched. The investigating judges should have closed them again before ordering this dismissal.

The file will now return to their desktop. It is up to them to decide whether the 5 general officers involved should be tried. The associations Survie and Ibuka, the International Federation for Human Rights and six survivors accuse the soldiers of Operation Turquoise of knowingly abandoning the Tutsi refugees in the hills of Bisesero.

As soon as the dismissal order is quashed, this means that it leaves us the opportunity to make observations, to relaunch investigations. Investigating magistrates will be obliged to take our request into account. The debate must be reopened on the basis of the Duclert report, which has not been done, which has been refused. The Duclert report made it very clear that it did not have to decide on criminal classifications. So he does not say that there are officials of the French army who are guilty or who must be prosecuted, he does not take sides. However, in the elements contained in the Duclert report, there is a series of elements which nevertheless incriminate military personnel and which, in our view, require further investigation. This allows us to continue the fight. That's what's positive.

Patrick Baudouin, lawyer for the International Federation for Human Rights, civil party in this case (FIDH)

Marine de La Moissonnière

Last September, after 17 years of investigation, the magistrates wrote in their order of dismissal that "the direct participation of (...) French military to abuses" could not be established. Nor is "complicity in aiding or abetting genocidal forces" or "by abstention". Not sure they change their minds today.

Genocide in Rwanda: French justice annuls the dismissal of the investigation into the Bisesero massacres

Genocide in Rwanda: French justice annuls the dismissal of the investigation into the Bisesero massacres

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