Two investigating judges in Paris have dismissed the case against Agathe Habyarimana, widow of Rwanda’s former president, citing insufficient evidence to prosecute her for alleged complicity in the 1994 genocide.
The ruling, issued on Thursday, significantly reduces the likelihood that the 82-year-old will face trial for conspiracy to commit genocide.
In their dismissal order, the judges concluded that there was no evidence linking Habyarimana directly to the atrocities. Instead, they noted she was herself a victim of terrorism, as her husband, President Juvénal Habyarimana, was killed in the April 6, 1994 plane bombing that triggered the genocide.
The National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office has already announced plans to appeal the decision.
The case originated from a 2008 complaint filed by the Civil Parties Collective for Rwanda (CPCR), which accused Habyarimana of complicity in genocide and crimes against humanity. After years of investigation, a judge closed the case in February 2022, pointing to an eventual dismissal. However, in August that year, prosecutors pushed for further hearings and cross-examinations, describing it as one of France’s most complex genocide-related cases.
The genocide, which erupted after the president’s assassination, claimed the lives of around 800,000 people — mostly Tutsis and moderate Hutus — at the hands of extremist militias and the Rwandan Armed Forces.
