On May 16, the Paris judicial court issued a shocking decision. The judge announced the closure of the investigation into Agathe Habyarimana’s role in the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.
According to the ruling, there is “no serious and consistent evidence at this stage” that she was an accomplice to genocide.
This conclusion is not just disappointing. It is devastating. It is a cruel insult to the survivors of one of the most horrific crimes of the 20th century. It is plainly, a travesty of justice.
Agathe Habyarimana was not a bystander. She was the biggest power brokers in the regime of her husband, Juvenal Habyarimana, which planned, and following his death executed the genocide against the Tutsi.
She was a major shareholder in the RTLM radio station, a central instrument in the propaganda machine that incited ordinary citizens to commit unthinkable acts. RTLM did not merely broadcast news. It broadcast instructions to kill.
Habyarimana’s wife’s influence went far beyond the airwaves. Following the death of her husband, she vowed: “all Tutsi will pay the price!” This was an unambiguous call to mass murder.
Survivors and investigators have testified that she instructed military leaders to distribute weapons and eliminate Tutsi civilians.
Habyarimana’s wife was a mastermind of the genocide even more so than her husband. She, together with her close relative Bagosora and others of her “kitchen cabinet” in fact killed Habyarimana so as to set in motion the genocide to wipe out Rwanda’s Tutsis.
Agathe Kanziga even gave the order to assassinate Prime Minister Agathe Uwilingiyimana, one of the genocide’s first high-profile victims, because the prime minister was opposed to the ongoing campaign of mass murder.
Despite this, the French court now declares her innocent. It’s spitting on the countless graves of innocents, murdered in the most gruesome ways.
This verdict dismisses years of testimony, research, and documented links between Agathe and the inner circle of planners who coordinated the 1994 Genocide.
This is not the first time some in France have failed Rwanda in its pursuit of justice. For decades, French officials offered shelter and silence to those responsible for unspeakable crimes. Agathe Habyarimana has lived comfortably in France while survivors continue to carry the weight of trauma and loss. To now declare her innocent is to absolve not only her, but the history she helped shape.
Agathe Habyarimana was not just present during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. She was part of its engine, pushing it forward long before 1994. Her hands were never clean.
This court decision does more than fail justice. It dishonors the memory of over a million lives lost. It tells survivors that their truth does not matter. And it tells the world that power and privilege can still shield the guilty.
Agathe Habyarimana can only be declared innocent if we abandon justice altogether.
ellenkampire