The trial at the assizes of the former Franco-Rwandan hotel driver Claude Muhayimana, accused of "complicity" in genocide, initially scheduled for the fall, will finally be held from February 2 to 26, 2021, we learned on Wednesday. May 20, judicial source.
Read also: Genocide in Rwanda: Félicien Kabuga presented to the public prosecutor's office
This trial, which will be the third in France for crimes related to the genocide of Tutsi in 1994, was scheduled to take place from September 29 to October 23, 2020, but its holding was postponed due to the consequences of the coronavirus crisis.
Read also: The UN welcomes the arrest of the "financier" of the Rwandan genocide
Claude Muhayimana, a former driver of the Guest House in Kibuye, on the shore of Lake Kivu (west), is to be tried for "complicity" in genocide and crimes against humanity "by aid and assistance" . He is accused of complicity in the April 1994 attack on a local school and in the massacres of Tutsi refugees in the neighboring hills of Karongi, Gitwa and Bisesero from April to June, having transported Interahamwe, Hutu militiamen and armed arms of the genocide, at the scene of the massacres.
A refugee in France, of which he obtained nationality in 2010, Claude Muhayimana had been arrested in 2014 in Rouen, a year after the opening of this investigation initiated by a complaint from the Collective of Civil Parties for Rwanda (CPCR).
Genocide in Rwanda: France announces the arrest of Félicien Kabuga, on the run for 25 years
The examining magistrates had decided in November 2017 to send him back to the assizes, decision confirmed on appeal in April 2019.
Two trials related to this genocide have already been held in France: in 2014, the ex-presidential guard officer Pascal Simbikangwa was sentenced to 25 years' imprisonment, a sentence confirmed on appeal in 2016, and Octavien Ngenzi and Tito Barahira, former mayors in eastern Rwanda have been sentenced to life imprisonment, sentences also confirmed on appeal. Two other investigations, targeting ex-prefect Laurent Bucyibaruta and doctor Sosthène Munyemana, also ended with a reference to the assizes, but the appeals of the two men have still to be examined by the court of appeal.
See also - Armenian genocide: Erdogan accuses France of "genocide" in Rwanda and Algeria
