France: There can be no double standards in truth and justice

May 21st 1996- the discovery of the beheaded bodies of seven French monks in Algeria sends shock waves throughout the world, all official fingers pointing in the direction of the usual local suspects; militants of the Armed Islamic Group better known as GIA. Diplomatic relations between France and Algeria find themselves severely strained as a result of this unspeakable crime. May 8th 2002- a suicide bomber claims the lives of 11 employees of French naval constructor DCN, in front of the Karachi Sheraton Hotel, by driving his fake taxicab into the bus transporting them. In this case, the usual suspect was the infamous terrorist group Al Qaeda. At this point, you might be wondering where I am going with this. Bear with me and you will understand. These two seemingly unrelated events have three things in common. Both cases were under the investigative care of French anti-terrorism judge Jean-Louis Bruguière. Both were political cover ups designed to hide embarrassing truths about the French Government. Both are now receiving media scrutiny as the French President, in pursuit of clarity, battles his country’s peculiar system of “independent investigative judges” Does he sound familiar? That’s because he is the same anti-terrorism “expert” assigned to investigate the case of former Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana whose plane was downed in April 1994 by persons “unknown”. As it was the case for the two aforementioned cases, Judge Bruguière pushed for one version and one version alone. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out why the powers that be in France claim to want the truth to come out (going as far as throwing a couple of prominent names around i.e. ex-prime minister Edouard Balladur) without mentioning the name of the very man at the forefront of these cover-ups. So here is my point: why isn’t anyone raising questions about the validity of the arrest warrants issued by this so-called anti-terrorism super-duper judge against eight Rwandan leaders? The report filed by Bruguière in the Rwandan case is so embarrassingly flawed that it is insulting to the intellectual minds of those he hoped would go along with it. So embarrassing indeed that Paris has been multiplying efforts to normalize relations with Kigali, going as far as allowing Mrs.Rose Kabuye to carry on with her duties as Director of Protocol, even while subjecting her to long-distance commute back and forth to France at Rwanda’s expense. It is long overdue for those who inherited the Rwanda case from ex-judge Bruguière to come out and denounce its inconsistencies, as they have been denounced by the Rwandan Government and many others for so long, to finally and permanently do away with the past and declare in no uncertain terms that the international arrest warrants issued against innocent Rwandans nothing but a desperate invention of a misguided and corrupt judge. In the meantime, I add a Rwandan voice to those who expressed outrage over the bogus cases in Algeria and Pakistan. There can be no double standards in the truth. alberuda@gmail.com Director, Contact FM