French judges order dismissal of genocide case against Rwanda ex-president's widow

Investigating judges in Paris have ordered the dismissal of a case accusing the widow of Rwanda's former president of involvement in the 1994 genocide, according to documents seen by AFP Thursday.

"There are insufficient charges against Agathe Kanziga (Habyarimana) to show she could have been an accomplice to genocide" or could have participated in "conspiracy to commit genocide", the judges wrote in the ruling seen by AFP.

Habyarimana, 82, who has been living in France since 1998 and whose extradition has been repeatedly requested by Kigali, now appears highly unlikely to face trial by a French court following the order.

French anti-terror prosecutors told AFP on Thursday they plan to appeal the ruling.

A lawyer for one of the civil parties described the judges' decision to dismiss "eminently regrettable and incomprehensible".

"There was clearly sufficient evidence" against the defendant, said Patrick Baudouin, lawyer for the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), adding he would likely appeal.

But Habyarimana's lawyer, Philippe Meilhac, hailed the order as a "source of immense satisfaction", saying it "restored her honour".

The former first lady fled Rwanda with French help just days after her husband's plane was shot down in April 1994, triggering the genocide which saw around 800,000 people, mainly ethnic Tutsis, slaughtered in one of the 20th century's worst atrocities.

The investigation has been under way since 2008, when a French-based victims' association filed a legal complaint against Habyarimana, who was questioned over suspicions that she was part of the Hutu inner circle of power that planned and orchestrated the killings.

She had the status of assisted witness, which in France's legal system is between being a witness and being charged.

The investigation was closed in 2022, but French anti-terror prosecutors, who sought to charge Habyarimana, requested a new one be opened.

In May, judicial authorities again closed the investigation without pressing charges, a decision also under appeal by the National Anti-Terror Prosecutor's Office (PNAT).