Rwanda’s Former First Lady Agathe Habyarimana Avoids Genocide Trial in France

Agathe Habyarimana, the 82-year-old widow of former Rwandan President Juvénal Habyarimana, avoided trial in France after investigating magistrates found insufficient evidence to charge her with complicity in the 1994 genocide.

The former First Lady, who fled Rwanda with French assistance after her husband’s assassination triggered the mass killings, was under investigation after a complaint by a victims’ group. A French investigation into her alleged role began in 2008, and she was questioned as an “assisted witness”, a legal status between a witness and a suspect.

French prosecutors argued she was part of the Hutu power circle that orchestrated the genocide, but the court ruled there was no “serious and consistent evidence” linking her to the atrocities. While the case could soon be dismissed, French anti-terror prosecutors appealed the decision, and a hearing date was set.

Her lawyer welcomed the ruling and called for a swift end to the case.

By Allafrica