Africa-Press – Rwanda. The trial Genocide suspect, Claude Muhayimana, finally started on Monday, November 22 in the Cour d’Assises Paris after being postponed on several occasions.
The trial was initially scheduled to run from September 29 to October 23 in 2020 but got pushed to February 2 to 26, 2021, and later, due to Covid-19 was postponed to November 22.
According to the released calendar, it will run until December 17. A naturalized French citizen, Muhayimana is accused of playing a role in the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, and crimes against humanity.
Speaking to The New Times, Richard Gisagara, a Rwandan lawyer based in France who has been following up on this case, said that this is the first time the French court will hear about what happened in Bisesero, in western Rwanda where over 50,000 Tutsi were killed.
“The crime of Genocide has no statute of limitations. It can never get outdated, residents in Bisesero can expect justice. This trial will also help us to know more about what happened and maybe lead to the arrest of other suspects,” he said.
This will also highlight the heroic acts of Abasesero who resisted militias during the Genocide, he added. For years, France-based Collectif des parties Civiles pour le Rwanda (CPCR) which works to see Genocide suspects living in France brought to book, has been pushing for his trial.
Muhayimana worked as a driver at a hotel in the former Kibuye Prefecture in western Rwanda, and the rights group accused him of transporting Interahamwe militia to various locations where massacres were carried out.
He is accused of participating in the massacre of the Tutsi in the Saint-Jean compound in the city of Kibuye and in Gatwaro stadium, killing people in the area.
He also worked closely with the then prefect of Kibuye, Clément Kayishema, who is said to have ordered the atrocities which took place in that stadium. Kayishema was tried and convicted by a UN court and died in 2016 in a prison in Mali, where he was serving a life sentence.
IBUKA France, in a statement, said that it is satisfied that the trial is finally taking place after 10 years of pitfalls encountered during judicial procedures.
Egide Nkuranga, President of IBUKA, said that the trial was hampered by different political reasons over the past years, but “now they (France) have shown interests in collaborating to address the issue of impunity.”
The 60 years aged, was investigated in December 2011 when an international arrest warrant was issued against him. In March 2012, he was arrested at his workplace in the city of Rouen and placed under extradition.
However, he was released and placed under judicial supervision, two extradition orders were overturned in 2012 and 2013. In 2014, he was again arrested and placed under investigation on charges of Genocide and complicity, and crimes against humanity, it was until 2019 that prospects of a trial were announced.
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