A judicial investigation was opened in Paris against a former Rwandan deputy, who is believed to be living in France, in particular for "
crime of genocide
" and "
crimes against humanity
" for the role he would have had during the genocide of the Tutsi in 1994 , AFP learned Thursday, October 28 from a judicial source. The judicial information, opened on October 18 by the national anti-terrorism prosecution and entrusted to judges from the "
crimes against humanity
"
pole
of the Paris judicial court, targets Pierre Kayondo. It is also open for the offenses of "
complicity in the crime of genocide
", "
complicity in crimes against humanity
" and "
conspiracy to prepare for these crimes.
», Between April and July 1994. It follows the complaint with the constitution of civil party filed on September 22 by the Collective of Civil Parties of Rwanda (CPCR), according to which Pierre Kayondo would live in Le Havre.
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“
This is great news, but it's only a step.
Time is playing against us, so testimonies must be collected as quickly as possible,
”Me Domitille Philippart, lawyer for the CPCR, responded to AFP.
The president of this collective, Alain Gauthier, then affirmed that Pierre Kayondo had been “a
shareholder of the Radio Télévision des Mille Collines
” and “
considered as“ an irreducible of the MRND ”(National Republican Movement for Democracy and Development), very linked to the Interahamwe movement
, ”the Hutu militia, the main armed wing of the genocide.
"An active role in the killings"
In its complaint, the CPCR assures us that Pierre Kayondo, “
former prefect of Kibuye and former deputy
” in the prefecture of Gitarama, “
actively participated in the organization of the exterminations in Ruhango and Tambwe in the prefecture of Gitarama, by allowing the formation of a group of interahamwe militiamen, supplying weapons and participating in meetings
”. For Alain Gauthier, Pierre Kayondo "
was close to personalities convicted of genocide
", including Colonel Aloys Simba and Ephrem Nkezabera, nicknamed the "
banker of the genocide
".
The CPCR, an association which has been tracking for more than twenty years the alleged genocidaires in France on behalf of the victims and survivors, relies on several testimonies which, according to him, "
establish the active role of Pierre Kayondo in the killings which took place. held from April 20 in the Gitarama region
”.
The genocide against the Tutsi minority, orchestrated by the extremist Hutu regime in power, left more than 800,000 dead between April and July 1994, including moderate Hutus.
To date, two genocide-related trials in Rwanda have resulted in the final convictions of three men in France.
Two other men are soon to be tried.