Is justice finally overcoming impunity?

One person that must be squirming in his seat is a certain Paul Barril, a former captain in the French military and core member of the French president’s inner circle, an anti terrorism unit.

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

One person that must be squirming in his seat is a certain Paul Barril, a former captain in the French military and core member of the French president’s inner circle, an anti terrorism unit.Barril also dipped his fingers in many African pies, most prominently in Rwanda, where he enjoyed unparalleled access to the leadership and was in the centre of many fishy security deals.Now his murky past is catching up with him after the International Human Rights Federation (FDIH) the League of Human Rights (LDH) and French NGO, SURVIE, lodged criminal charges against him for his role in the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.He is the first French official to be charged with complicity in the Genocide, and the general feeling among survivors is that the tide should continue, judicial officials, wherever they may be, should follow the trail while it’s still fresh.Many high ranking French and Rwandan government officials connived in the murders of over one million people, it is therefore puzzling that we have to wait for twenty years to elapse before taking action against them The French have a very fitting word to describe the definition of the crime of Genocide: Imprescriptible, meaning that there is no statutes of limitations for the crime, it will never wear out. That should make all the Paul Barrils out there to live in fear, that one day, someone might come knocking at their doors to compel them to atone for their crimes.