The association of Rwandans living in France (CRF) has welcomed the announcement by the French judiciary setting the date of trial for Genocide fugitive Laurent Bucyibaruta. According to the announcement, Bucyibaruta, who in 1994 was the prefect of Gikongoro Prefecture in Southern Province, will go on trial next year on May 9. He is accused of masterminding the Genocide against the Tutsi in the area which he led and beyond. The CRF hopes this just marks the beginning of an end to impunity for the many Genocide fugutives who have found safe haven in the European country for the past 27 years. Rwandans in France told The New Times that the trial date was announced by the Cour dassises of Paris, a criminal trial court that handles cases of genocide and war crimes on Wednesday, June 1. The development comes just seven days after French President Emmanuel Macron on May 27, delivered the speech at the Kigali Genocide Memorial in which he sought the forgiveness of the survivors of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, for what he admitted was his countrys historical and political responsibility in Rwanda. Macron, among others, also committed to ensure that he would work to ensure no Genocide suspects escape justice. During and after the Genocide against the Tutsi, instead of arresting ring leaders of the mass murders, French troops helped them flee, with many eventually being welcomed to stay in France where they remain up to now. The CRF president Angelique Ingabire told The New Times that the association is among the groups that sued the suspect and had long been waiting for the announcement of a date for trial. Ingabire said: We are so happy to see that Bucyibaruta is going to stand trial. Todate, there over 30 file cases of Genocide suspects but only four have been tried. Ingabire recalled that during his recent trip to Rwanda, President Macron said that effort was going to be put in the justice system so that genocide suspects be brought to book. She added: This gives us hope that all others accused of genocide crimes in relation to the genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda who have resided in France without fear will no longer enjoy impunity as has been then case for long. France is home to at least 47 indicted Genocide suspects. Richard Gisagara, a Rwandan lawyer based in France, appears unbothered by the fact that top genocide fugitives such as Agathe Kanziga, wife of former President Juvenal Habyarimana, and Wenceslas Munyeshyaka, a former parish priest of Kigali’s St. Famille church, are still free. Gisagara said: They will all have their time. Bucyibaruta, one of the numerous genocide fugitives in France, is listed among the key people who participated in the killing of more than 50,000 Tutsi who had taken refuge in Murambi, 27 years ago. In 2007, he was arrested in France at the request of the UN Genocide tribunal which asked France to try him as part of the Courts completion strategy. He was subsequently released and never tried. He is charged with, among others, genocide and incitement to commit genocide, extermination, murder and rape. In April, a prosecutor in France requested that Genocide suspect Philippe Hategekimana, alias Biguma, be referred to the cour dassises. Hategekimana is accused of genocide, complicity in genocide, crimes against humanity and complicity in crimes against humanity. In April 2018, he was arrested in Yaoundé, Cameroon where he had been living under the name Philippe Manier ever since his naturalisation as a French citizen.
