Africa-Press – Rwanda. The French National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office has once again submitted a request for the judiciary to revisit the case of Agathe Kanziga, the wife of former Rwandan president Juvénal Habyarimana, in relation to her role in the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.
On the afternoon of Wednesday, March 19, the court will review requests from the prosecutors’ office to make several decisions, including one on whether to extend the timeframe for which Agathe Habyarimana is to be prosecuted, potentially backdating it to March 1, 1994. Until now, French authorities had limited the period of prosecution to events that occurred after April 7, 1994.
The court will also consider whether to expand the charges to include the crime of “conspiracy to prepare genocide.” This charge suggests involvement in the planning of genocide, even if the individual did not directly participate in its execution.
The hearing will be closed to the public, and a decision is not expected to be made immediately.
Now 82, Kanziga has long been accused of being a central figure in the “Akazu,” the inner circle of Hutu power extremists that orchestrated the 1994 genocide. She has repeatedly denied the accusations.
She was evacuated to Europe on April 9, 1994, at the request of French President François Mitterrand, a close associate of her husband. Since 1998, she has lived in France without legal status. Despite multiple requests for her extradition from Rwanda, France has refused.
A complaint filed in 2008 by rights activists Collectif des Parties Civiles pour le Rwanda (CPCR), initiated a French investigation into her alleged complicity in genocide and crimes against humanity. In February 2022, the investigating judge declared the case closed, indicating a probable dismissal.
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