Court overturns Habyarimana genocide ruling

CAPTION: Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of Rwandan president Juvénal Habyarimana, at a Paris courthouse, on April 30, 2014. (Courtesy photo).

By Agencies

FRANCE – The Paris appeals court ruled that the investigation into Agathe Habyarimana must resume. She is accused of acts that constitute ‘complicity in genocide and crimes against humanity’ during the Rwandan genocide.

The Paris appeals court could have brought an end to a legal saga that has lasted 19 years. It did not. On Wednesday, May 6, judges overturned the dismissal that had been ordered on August 21, 2025, of a case against Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of Juvénal Habyarimana, the Hutu former president of Rwanda whose assassination on April 6, 1994, triggered the genocide of the Tutsi people in the country. The appeals court ruled that the investigation must resume. The former first lady, who has lived in exile in France since 2004, is charged with “complicity in genocide and crimes against humanity,” crimes that are not subject to any statute of limitations.

In 2008, a complaint was filed by several non-governmental organizations, including the International Federation for Human Rights, Survie (“Survival”), and the Collective of Plaintiffs for Rwanda (CPCR). At 83, Habyarimana is still a free woman. “But it is a dark day for French justice,” said her lawyer, Philippe Meilhac. “So much time wasted! This decision has only one purpose: to preserve diplomatic