Genocide in Rwanda. Lawsuit required against a naturalized French ex-gendarme

The ex-gendarme rwandan Philippe Hategekimana, naturalized French, sees the prospect of a trial at the assizes approaching, demanded by the public prosecutor who accuses the soldier, detained for two years, of having actively participated in the genocide of Tutsis in 1994.

Philippe Hategekimana – naturalized French in 2005 under the name of Philippe Manier – must be fixed within a month on the final decision of the investigating judges responsible for investigations into the role played in the massacres by this former adjutant at the Nyanza gendarmerie, in Butare prefecture (south).

At the end of an investigation opened in 2015, the division “Crimes against humanity and war crimes” within the national anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office (Pnat) demanded on April 13 that the former gendarme be tried for “Genocide, crimes against humanity and participation in a group for preparation” of these crimes.

Three out of eight convictions

If the magistrates follow the opinion of the prosecution, the non-commissioned officer will be the 8th accused returned to the assizes in France for crimes committed during this genocide, which left more than 800,000 dead according to l’ON, mainly Tutsis exterminated between April and July 1994.

But to date, only three of them have been definitively convicted and the last trial dates back to 2018. A fourth accused is due to be tried in November. But twenty-seven years after the genocide, Kigali and the civil parties regularly show their impatience to finally see the suspects refugees in France brought to trial, the French courts having constantly opposed their extradition to Rwanda.

The judicial fate of these suspects is one of the points of tension in the complicated relationship between Paris and Kigali, poisoned by the question of France’s role in the genocide. The tone is now calming since the Duclert report, which concluded last month “Heavy and overwhelming responsibilities” of Paris during the massacres.

Philippe Hategekimana, he is reproached by the prosecution “Its role in erecting barriers intended to control and assassinate Tutsi civilians”, “In the murder of several Tutsis on two of these roadblocks”, “In the assassination of the bourgmestre of Ntyazo, Narcisse Nyagasaza and a group of Tutsi” and “In the direction and implementation of the massacres in the hills of Nyabubare and Nyamure”, said the Pnat in a press release, which also retains “His participation in several meetings aimed at preparing or coordinating crimes”.

According to Pnat, “In Nyabubare, the massacres had resulted in the death of nearly 300 Tutsis while in Nyamure, nearly 10,000 victims were counted”.

Arrested in Cameroon

Philippe Hategekimana left Rwanda after the genocide. Domiciled in the region of Rennes, he had left France for the Cameroon shortly before his arrest. Arrested at the end of March 2018 in Yaoundé and extradited a year later, he was indicted on February 15, 2019 and placed in pre-trial detention.

His defense, provided by Mes Emmanuel Altit, Alexis Guedj and Fabio Lhote, was not able to react immediately.

“This is an important issue and which has advanced faster than others”, given the detention, welcomed Alain Gauthier, president of the Collective of Civil Parties for Rwanda, whose complaint in June 2015 had triggered the investigation.

Forty civil parties, including the CPCR, the Licra and survivors or relatives of victims, were formed in this case.

“Thirty judicial inquiries relating to the genocide committed in Rwanda are still pending” in France, specifies the Pnat.

A trial linked to this genocide is scheduled for November, that of a former hotel driver Claude Muhayimana.

Three other defendants – former prefect Laurent Bucyibaruta and doctors Sosthène Munyemana and Eugène Rwamucyo – have filed appeals against their return to court. Mr Bucyibaruta’s last appeal was rejected by the Court of Cassation on Wednesday, but the trial dates have not yet been set.

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