France's top court closes probe of plane crash that sparked Rwandan genocide in 1994

The investigation into who shot down the presidential plane in 1994, which sparked the Rwandan genocide, will be officially closed, according to France’s Court of Cassation.

Rwandan president Juvenal Habyarimana (C) was killed when his plane was shot down in 1994, triggering the genocide of some 800,000 in the east African country. AFP/File

"The investigation was complete, and sufficient charges did not exist against anyone for committing the alleged crimes, nor any other infraction," said the court on Tuesday, rejecting the appeal made by families of those killed in the missile attack that hit then-Rwandan president Juvenal Habyarimana's plane on 6 April 1994.

The group had called on judges to reverse a lower court order to abandon the case.

That investigation involved some people close to current Rwandan President Paul Kagame and had been marked by a number of arrest warrants that strained relations between Paris and Kigali.

"Of course this decision disappoints the Rwandan plaintiffs, but in reality the harm has long since been done," said lawyer Philippe Meilhac, who represents Habyarimana's widow Agathe.

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Defence lawyers Leon-Lef Forster and Bernard Maingain said the ruling was a victory for the Rwandan soldiers who had been “unjustly accused” by a French judge in 2006, arguing that the investigation was seemingly political.

They added that this legal battle will also help do justice for the genocide victims.

Downed plane mystery

The downing of the plane is seen as the event that sparked the 100-day genocide, where more than 800,000 people, mainly Tutsis and moderate Hutus, were killed by extremist Hutus.

In the aircraft were Habyarimana and Burundian president Cyprien Ntaryamira were, en route from discussions in Tanzania on the Rwandan crisis.

The two had been in talks with Kagame, then the leader of the mostly Tutsi Rwandan Patriotic Front (FPR) rebel group.

Family members of the French flight crew that died in the attack brought their case to French court in 1998.

Although French investigators believed that Kagame’s rebels shot the missile as the plane landed in Kigali, they later looked into the possibility that Hutu extremists, unhappy with Habyarimana’s moderate stance, were the culprits. Both theories turned up empty-handed.

A French expert report in 2012 indicated that the plane was hit by missiles that came from a camp where Habyarimana's own presidential guard were stationed at the time.

Investigating magistrates decided to drop the case in December 2018 due to lack of solid evidence, which meant the charges were solely based on witness accounts that were "mostly contradictory or impossible to verify."

They also indicated that there was a "detrimental atmosphere" around the case, citing killings, witness disappearances and manipulated testimonies.