- Title: France puts two former Rwandan officials on trial for genocide
- Date: 10th May 2016
- Summary: PARIS, FRANCE (MAY 10, 2016) (REUTERS) ***WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** VARIOUS EXTERIORS OF PARIS COURT HOUSE FRENCH AND EUROPEAN FLAGS GENDARMERIE VAN DRIVING THROUGH ENTRANCE COURTROOM WITH PUBLIC WAITING TO ENTER PLAINTIFF, CALLIXTE KALINDA (LEFT), TALKING WITH OTHER PLAINTIFFS (SOUNDBITE) (French) PLAINTIFF, CALLIXTE KALINDA, SAYING: "I am a victim, I lost my wife and five children. I am not dead as I was here in France when it happened." SIGN ABOVE COURTROOM (SOUNDBITE) (French) PLAINTIFF, CALLIXTE KALINDA, SAYING: "They shot them with their weapons, and so... The one who lead the genocide killings basically." KALINDA AND HIS LAWYER, RICHARD GISARA, TALKING TOGETHER (SOUNDBITE) (French) LAWYER OF PLAINTIFF, RICHARD GISARA, SAYING: "Yes, this trial is very very important because in terms of the procedure itself, it's only the second time in France that universal jurisdiction is used, that's the first thing. The second thing is that this trial is about a part of history, it's about genocide and crimes against humanity, so for those two reasons this trial is very very important." MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC WAITING TO ENTER COURTROOM (SOUNDBITE) (French) LAWYER OF PLAINTIFF, RICHARD GISARA, SAYING: "What kind of verdict would you expect? I only represent the plaintiffs, I'm not public prosecutor, but for me a crime against humanity and genocide requires a justified sentence and that sentence would be the maximum penalty. Thank you." VARIOUS OF MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC GOING THROUGH SECURITY CHECKS BEFORE ENTERING COURTROOM VARIOUS OF MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC QUEUING TO ENTER COURTROOM
- Embargoed: 25th May 2016 10:33
- Keywords: Rwanda genocide Hutu Tutsi Paris trial Tito Barahira Octavien Ngenzi
- Location: PARIS, FRANCE & VARIOUS LOCATIONS, RWANDA
- City: PARIS, FRANCE & VARIOUS LOCATIONS, RWANDA
- Country: France
- Topics: Crime/Law/Justice,Judicial Process/Court Cases/Court Decisions
- Reuters ID: LVA0014H866VB
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: PLEASE NOTE THIS EDIT CONTAINS GRAPHIC IMAGES AND FOOTAGE THAT WAS ORIGINALLY 4:3
The trial of two former local Rwandan officials accused of genocide and crimes against humanity in 1994 opened in Paris on Tuesday (May 10).
For a duration of nearly eight weeks, some 90 witnesses and six experts must appear in court to enlighten the magistrates and jurors on the charges against Tito Barahira, 64, and Octavien Ngenzi, 58, who allegedly participated in a genocide that killed some 800,000 people in just 100 days, between April and July 1994.
The accused deny all charges which include giving out orders on several attacked locations and themselves conducting selections between ethnic groups.
They took turns holding the local head position in Kabarondo in eastern Rwanda, from 1977 to 1986 for Barahira and from 1986 to 1994 for Ngenzi.
Members of the public as well as relatives of victims appeared at the trial such as 78 year-old Tutsi Callixte Kalinda, who lost his wife and five children on April 12, 1994.
This is the second such trial to be held in France, two years after the ruling of Rwandan army captain Pascal Simbikangwa, who was sentenced to 25 years in prison. He has since filed an appeal.
According to a 1996 French law, Rwandans suspected of being involved in the genocide can be tried in a French court.
The three-month killing spree in 1994 by Hutu extremists targeted ethnic Tutsis, but moderate Hutus were also caught in the wave of violence that followed the fatal downing of a plane carrying Rwandan Hutu President Juvenal Habyarimana.
The town of Kabarondo became the theatre of attacks against the Tutsi people until April 13, "the bloodiest of days" according to the prosecution.
Diplomatic ties between Rwanda and France were broken off in 2006 when a French judge said that among others, Paul Kagame, a rebel leader whose government came to power after the genocide, had orchestrated the assassination Habyarimana to trigger the bloodshed - an accusation he denies and which French justice has since dropped.
When Kagame, a Tutsi, came to power, about two million Hutus fled to refugees camps at borders with Burundi, Tanzania or Uganda, and the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the former Zaire.
Ties between France and Rwanda were restored in 2009 and a year later France officially recognised it had made "errors" in the country.
France in 2012 created a special investigation unit to try cases of genocide and crimes against humanity involving suspects detained in France.
The trial of the two accused is expected to run until July 1st. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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