US EditionFrench Judges Dismiss Genocide Case Against Rwanda's Former First Lady
French court ruled no sufficient evidence to indict Agathe Habyarimana for complicity in the 1994 genocide, despite her alleged key role in the extremist Hutu inner circle.
- On August 21, 2025, French judges dismissed the genocide case against Agathe Habyarimana, citing a lack of proof connecting her to the 1994 Rwandan genocide.
- The investigation began in 2008 following a complaint alleging her involvement in orchestrating the genocide that killed about 800,000 people, mostly Tutsis and moderate Hutus.
- French intelligence and courts previously identified Habyarimana as wielding de facto authority in the Akazu network and controlling genocidal propaganda outlets like Kangura and RTLM.
- The judges acknowledged that she suffered personal losses in the April 1994 attack that claimed the lives of her husband, brother, and other family members, and concluded that there was not enough evidence to establish her involvement in the genocide.
- The ruling greatly reduces her chances of trial in France, intensifies debate over France’s role in Rwanda, and leaves many survivors feeling justice remains incomplete.
14 Articles
14 Articles
French judges dismiss genocide case against Habyarimana's widow
In the dismissal order, the investigating judges said there was no evidence pinning Habyarimana as a genocide perpetrator, but only as a victim of a terror attack in which her husband - then President Juvenal Habyarimana - was killed
Dismissal for the widow of the former Rwandan president Hutu murdered: for two Parisian investigating judges, there is no sufficient charge to prosecute Agathe Habyarimana for conspiracy to commission the genocide of the Tutsi in 1994. ...
In their dismissal, the judges considered that there "does not exist sufficient charges" against her to consider "that she may have been an accomplice in the act of genocide" against the Tustis in 1994.
French justice has put an end to the prosecution of the widow of former Rwandan President Juvénal Habyarimana, who has been suspected of complicity in the genocide of the Tutsis for more than 15 years in 1994.
The prospect of a trial for Agathe Habyarimana is thus very far away, after years of arming between investigating judges and the national anti-terrorist prosecutor's office.
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