Yesterday at the Tribunal judiciaire de Paris, following the earlier ruling in May, two judges again dismissed the long-running case against Agathe Kanziga Habyarimana, saying there was no sufficient evidence to implicate her in genocide crimes committed against Tutsis in 1994.
As usual the Anti-Rwanda reactionaries and other FDLR sympathizers went over the top in jubilation, that she has again escaped formal prosecution for her role in the 1994 genocide Against the Tutsi in Rwanda.
But let’s be clear: nothing in yesterday’s decision clears Agathe Kanziga of responsibility for the terrible crimes she committed. It only means that this particular court in France found a way to push the case aside. Legal options are not over yet. The prosecutors have already said they will appeal, and the civil party association CPCR, which has been pursuing her since 2008, will not stop.
This case is not closed.
On the other hand, the bigger question in all this, is whether French courts could have delivered fair justice on the matter. France, despite the recent cooperation with Rwanda, was not only a partisan during the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi; it sponsored it, and some individuals are still bitter about the good relationship forged between the two nations so far.
Expecting some judges in Paris to be impartial in a case involving Agathe Kanziga is like expecting a monkey to rule fairly in a case about bananas – as an Ugandan proverb goes. Her case should have been handled by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda or its successor body, not by a court in France.
The evidence against her is not vague. Witnesses and written testimonies place her at the center of the “Akazu” the inner circle that planned and directed the genocide. Survivors even recount how Tutsis who sought shelter at her house were turned away. Instead of protecting them, she told her bodyguards to hand them over to the killers. That is not being a bystander, that is direct involvement.
Kanziga’s sons that have been noisy on social media like Léon and Jean Luc Habyarimana know exactly what their mother did. They were old enough to see it with their own eyes. The international tribunal that convicted Théoneste Bagosora and Protais Zigiranyirazo, her cousin, could have handled her case as well. They were part of the same network.
What happened in Paris is only another delay. It is not the end. Every path will be followed until justice is done. Justice delayed is not justice denied.
Agathe Habyarimana has lived in France since April 1994. In 2008, a complaint by the CPCR opened a case against her. She was given the status of “assisted witness” in 2016. Prosecutors pressed repeatedly for her indictment on charges of conspiracy to commit genocide and complicity in crimes against humanity, most recently in 2024 and again in May 2025. Yesterday, the judges in Paris dismissed the case, but prosecutors and civil parties have already appealed.
The fight continues.
ellenkampire