The Paris court on Friday acquitted journalist Natacha Polony, who was being sued by several associations for contesting the genocide of Tutsis in Rwanda in 1994, a first in France.
Seeing in his words "
a challenge to the existence of the genocide
" results "
from an extrapolation of the remarks in question
", considered the court.
With this decision, "
the court sends the message that historians, researchers, can work, express themselves on what happened (in Rwanda), deepen the situation without being threatened with legal proceedings
", reacted with AFP the editorial director of the weekly Marianne, present at the reading of the deliberation.
Since 2017, the law on the freedom of the press punishes the fact of denying, minimizing or trivializing in an outrageous way all the genocides recognized by France and not only that of the Jews during the Second World War.
The 47-year-old journalist is the first to appear before French justice for "
disputing the existence of crimes against humanity
" in Rwanda.
In question, comments made on March 18, 2018 on France Inter.
She had then evoked the genocide in Rwanda by considering "
necessary to look in the face what happened at that time and which ultimately has nothing to do with a distinction between the bad guys and the good guys
".
"
Unfortunately, we are typically in the kind of case where we had bastards facing other bastards (...) there were not on one side the good guys and on the other the bad guys in this story
" , she added.
These remarks had caused a great stir and prompted the association for the support of victims of the Rwandan genocide Ibuka France to file a complaint with a civil action.
The Mrap and the Rwandan Community of France joined it on the bench of the civil parties.
According to the court, "
her remarks, which she did not have the opportunity to explain (...) and which are immediately followed by the affirmation (...) in a clear manner of the existence of the genocide , cannot be analyzed in isolation, without considering those to whom they applied and the denials made by the defendant as to the intention attributed to him
”.
"
Clumsy Words
"
During the hearing, on March 1 and 2, Natacha Polony had explained that by the terms "
bastards
", she was referring to the leaders, not to the population, and to the "
crimes of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF, mainly Tutsi) of Paul Kagame committed before, during and after the genocide
”.
"
It's not the same violence
," argued historian Stéphane Audoin-Rouzeau, cited as a witness, explaining the "
complexity
" of the Tutsi genocide, which is due in particular to the fact that there is not "
a perfect victim
" there.
.
“
The target group (of the genocide) took power
” in July 1994 and then waged “
a civil war with all the violence of a war
”.
The public prosecutor had described the columnist's remarks as "
clumsy words
", but had seen "
no negationism
" in them.
“
If the judgment had not gone in this direction, no journalist would have broached this subject
,” said Natacha Polony, saying she was relieved to have been “
cleared ” of this “
serious and stigmatizing
” accusation
.