Request Denied: The Investigation Against Agathe Habyarimana and her Role in the Rwandan Genocide Continues.

On the 30 th of August 2021, the Paris Court of Appeal decided to continue the on-
going investigation into the role of Agathe Habyarimana (formerly Agathe Kanziga) during
the Rwandan Genocide of 1994. Mrs. Habyarimana is the former wife of the assassinated
Rwandan President, Juvenal Habyarimana. It is believed that his assassination of the 6 th of
April 1994 was the spark that ignited the subsequent genocide against the Tutsi population in
Rwanda. He was of Hutu descent. Since 2008, Mrs. Habyarimana has been under examination
by the French authorities for her complicity in the Rwandan genocide and is presumed to have
played a central role in the orchestration of violence (Africa News 2021). She had petitioned
the French Court to drop the on-going investigation against her given the lack of new
information and evidence to support her role in the genocide. The Court of First instance
rejected her request, which has now been affirmed by the Parisian Court of Appeal. For more
detailed information, please visit: https://www.africanews.com/2021/08/31/widow-of-ex-
rwandan-leader-loses-appeal-to-dismiss-genocide-probe/
Figure 1) Karuhanga, J, ‘Agathe Kanziga Appears Before French Court over Links to French
Mercenary’ The New Times, 03 November 2020)
<https://www.newtimes.co.rw/news/agathe-kanziga-appears-french-court-over-links-french-
mercenary> Accessed 07 September 2021.