Former first lady Agathe Kanziga Habyarimana and Capt Paul Barril, an ex-French military officer with links to Rwanda, should both be in the dock, according to Genocide researcher Tom Ndahiro.

Kanziga is one of the core members of Akazu, a small elite group that orchestrated the Genocide against the Tutsi. This is why Ndahiro said she should be prosecuted and not just appear in court as a witness.

Ndahiro's comments come after the widow of the genocidal regime’s president Juvenal Habyarimana, on Tuesday, November 3, appeared before a court in Paris for questioning in an ongoing investigation against Barril, a man who, among others, supplied arms and mercenaries on behalf of the French government to Rwanda's genocidal government in 1994.

Ndahiro told The New Times that: "Agatha Kanziga is one of the pillars of the genocidal structure. If there was political will, she would have been prosecuted in France or extradited to Rwanda."

"Or, in this case, she is supposed to be jointly accused with Paul Barril. Agatha is a suspect in the Genocide and not a mere prosecution witness."

Time is running out

Asked what he made of the latest developments, and what it could possibly imply as regards Kanziga's yet to be heard case, Alain Gauthier, who has for years tracked Rwandans living in France suspected of participating in the 1994 Genocide, said he did not really know. 

Gauthier said: "I do not know. This is the Baril file. I read that she (Kanziga) could be put there as an assisted witness, the step before a possible indictment."

Gauthier's rights group, Collectif des parties civiles pours le Rwanda (CPCR), filed genocide charges against Kanziga 13 years ago and has waited so long to see her brought to justice.

Gauthier is bothered by the fact that time is running out.

"But there exists her own proper case after the complaint we filed in 2007. This is the case that we would like to see moved forward as well. Kanziga is 79. And time is running out, just as in many other similar cases," Gauthier said.

Kanziga is number one of the top the known Rwandan Genocide fugitives living in France, despite an arrest warrant issued by Rwanda.

Kigali's extradition request was rejected by Paris in 2011 and there have never been any signs of a trial being set for her in France either.

In the past, french authorities denied her a residence permit. But they also never expelled her from the country.

Kanziga was one of the key members of the inner circle (Akazu) that was at the forefront of planning and supervising the 1994 Genocide.