Some first got to know about her in 2021 as she teamed up with other national prosecutors to indict terror convict Paul Rusesabagina.

However, Angelique Habyarimana has been active in the justice sector for more than two decades, serving as a prosecutor and a legal academic.

ALSO READ: Rusesabagina gets 25-year sentence over FLN terror attacks

She most recently worked as the Deputy Prosecutor General, a position from which she was promoted by President Paul Kagame to become Prosecutor General, during the major changes announced on June 12.

Her rise in the National Public Prosecution Authority (NPPA) has been gradual, over the years. She served in various portfolios including being a national prosecutor for nine years in the early 2000s, before becoming an inspector at the NPPA for 10 years.

She tremendously contributed to setting up a specialised unit combating gender-based violence crimes and domestic violence. She was the head of the gender-based violence unit at NPPA, until 2011.

In addition, she played a major role in detainees’ rights assessment in collaboration with Rwanda Correctional Service as a member of the national task force in charge of the Universal Periodic Report and as a member of the task force which implemented the National Preventive Mechanism in Rwanda.

She holds a Master’s degree in Criminal Justice from the University of Cape Town, a Post Graduate Diploma of Legal Practice from the Institute of Legal Practice Development of Rwanda and a Bachelor Degree in Law from the former National University of Rwanda.

She has also worked as a part-time lecturer and trainer at the Institute of Legal Practice of Rwanda.