The umbrella of Genocide survivors’ organisations, Ibuka, and the National Commission for the Fight against Genocide (CNLG) have welcomed the decision by France’s highest court to uphold the 25-year sentence for Genocide convict Pascal Simbikangwa.

The Cour de Cassation, on Thursday, delivered a verdict in which it averred that it was "obvious” Simbikangwa had "willingly participated in abuses against the Tutsi and against the civilian population in general.”

Confined to wheelchair since a car crash in the 1980s, Simbikangwa – a notorious intelligence operative before the Genocide – was charged with organising roadblocks where Hutu militia murdered the Tutsi.

Simbikangwa had initially been sentenced to 25 years by a criminal court in Paris in 2014, after six weeks of hearings, a verdict he had appealed against at the highest court in France.

Speaking to The New Times, Ibuka Executive Secretary, Naphtal Ahishakiye, said that the court passed a fair verdict against Simbikangwa, given his role in the Genocide against the Tutsi, which claimed lives of over a million people.

He said that Simbikangwa participated in the planning of the Genocide, inspecting roadblocks, forming Interahamwe militia group and giving instructions to kill the Tutsi.

"We are happy with the court’s ruling. Based on Simbikangwa’s greater participation in the Genocide, including its preparation and perpetration, it is good that the court carefully examined the case and upheld the sentence,” he said.

Ahishakiye observed that people were worried about the justice of France given the country’s role in the Genocide, and lack of enough political will in bringing to book those who participated in the Genocide.

Dozens of Genocide masterminds remain free in France, while others have been briefly held before they were set free.

"It is something to appreciate; it is a step in the right direction. They should keep up the trend by bringing to book other Genocide fugitives who are moving freely there, by either trying them or extraditing them to Rwanda to stand trial here,” he said.

Among those who are charged with participating in the Genocide and are living in France, Ahishakiye cited Agathe Kanziga – the widow of former President Juvénal Habyarimana, and catholic priest Wenceslas Munyeshyaka.

Munyeshyaka’s case was ten years ago referred to France for trial by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda but he has never been apprehended. Jean-Damascène Bizimana, the CNLG Executive Secretary, told The New Times that that Simbikangwa is one of the founders of the notorious ‘escadron de la mort’ – a death squad – consisting of an armed group that conducted extrajudicial killings or forced disappearances of persons for the purposes of political repression, genocide, or revolutionary terror.

"CNLG is happy that the highest court in France has definitely convicted Simbikangwa for his role in the Genocide. It is a decision to appreciate because it affirms that Simbikangwa planned and committed genocide,” he said.

Bizimana added that the ruling sends a message to all perpetrators still roaming the world that genocide is an indelible crime and that they too will have their day in court.

Simbikangwa had lost an initial appeal against his sentence for genocide crimes in 2016.

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