Simbikangwa, arrested in 2008 on the French island of Mayotte in the Indian Ocean, was initially accused of complicity in genocide and complicity in war crimes in 1994, but not of personally killing anyone. (Court sketch)
PARIS: Paris court delivered France's first-ever conviction for genocide on Friday, sentencing a Rwandan former intelligence chief to 25 years in prison over the 1994 killings of at least 500,000 people in the African country.
The landmark trial of 54-year-old Pascal Simbikangwa sets off what could be the first of dozens of French trials into one of the 20th century's greatest atrocities — two decades after it happened — and provides a judicial reckoning for a former colonial power that still has many ties to African countries like Mali, Central African Republic and beyond.
In a late-night verdict after 5 weeks of trial, the nine-person jury found Simbikangwa guilty of genocide and complicity to crimes against humanity for killings in Kigali, the capital, while throwing out other counts involving killings in the western town of Gisenyi. His defence lawyers said they will discuss with Simbikangwa (Sim-BEE-kangh-wah) whether to appeal.
Defence lawyer Alexandra Bourgeot said she was "appalled" at the verdict, accusing the court of a poor understanding of the case and expressing bafflement at the "incoherency" that a genocide conviction would merit 25 years in prison. Simbikangwa, however, wasn't surprised at the verdict, she said: "He himself told us beforehand, 'I have lived through a lot of things that I can withstand'."
Emmanuel Daoud, a lawyer for the International Federation of Human Rights, which lined up behind the state's case, declined to comment on whether the sentence suited the crime: "I don't have personal satisfaction knowing whether he got 25 years or a life sentence. What was important was the guilty verdict."
In many ways, the trial was less about a little-known man's role in a vast killing machine and more about a coming-to-terms with a judicial blindness in France, a country that sees itself as a paragon of human rights but has had its own culprits of crimes against humanity, such as during the Nazi occupation of France in World War II. Only a few years ago, such a trial might have been unthinkable — until a thaw in bilateral relations allowed for French investigators to start travelling to Rwanda to build their cases.
The trial wasn't likely to shed vast new light on the genocide: A UN tribunal and other courts have already sent dozens of defendants to prison, some for life. A key question was whether France could deliver a fair verdict on the subject of genocide in a country — Rwanda — that for years it was anything but impartial: Critics say France was too supportive of the Rwanda's Hutu-led government whose supporters carried out the genocide, and France turned a blind eye to the killings for too long.
Critics — many of them French citizens — say authorities from then-President Francois Mitterrand on down thought that France's strong support for the Hutu-led government was wise. Naively at best, those officials helped some perpetrators to flee Rwanda and others with ties to the genocide lived in France for years unpunished, the critics say.
French prosecutors are investigating about two dozen cases into Rwandans allegedly linked to the genocide, plus several others over alleged rape and complicity in genocide that haven't yet identified a defendant. A former military police officer, Paul Barril, is under investigation for allegedly having struck a deal to provide arms, munitions and training to Rwandan forces at the height of the massacres.
It is not yet clear when or if such cases will go to trial, but some sought to use the Simbikangwa trial to focus attention of the alleged French role in the genocide. Riot police encircled about 10 activists who shouted "France was complicit in Rwanda's genocide," as they tried to demonstrate outside the courthouse. They didn't have the proper permit, and were escorted away, officials said.
The proceedings in the Simbikangwa trial were squarely focused on his own case. He insisted he never even saw any of the bodies that littered the country's roads and towns at the time. In a final appeal to the jury on Friday morning, Simbikangwa insisted that the "authenticity of my innocence needs no more proof". He appealed to the jury's "conscience", and asked for a prayer for Tutsis and Hutus who died — though he showed no personal remorse.
"The real question is, 'what do I have to gain by saying that I didn't see any bodies?' Nothing," he said. "I ask only to be treated like a human being — no more."
Seated in a wheelchair in a glassed-in defendant's box, Simbikangwa flipped through handwritten notes as he invoked the memory of the "great men who built France" and cited philosophers Descartes and Montesquieu.
Said lawyer Daoud: "You don't lie to judges. Pascal Simbikangwa lied from start to finish, and he was penalized for it."
Of the two dozen or so cases linked to the Rwandan genocide being investigated in France, one involves President Juvenal Habyarimana, an ethnic Hutu. He died when his plane was shot down on April 6, 1994, setting of a torrent of reprisal slayings that became the genocide.
Simbikangwa, arrested in 2008 on the French island of Mayotte in the Indian Ocean, was initially accused of complicity in genocide and complicity in war crimes in 1994, but not of personally killing anyone. He has used a wheelchair since being injured in the mid-1980s, before the mass slaughter.
Malaysia flight MH370: China jets boost Indian Ocean hunt
Two
Chinese military planes have arrived in Perth in Australia to join
international search operations for the missing Malaysia Airlines jet.
Crews are scouring vast areas of the southern Indian Ocean for a fourth day.Two sets of satellite images showing floating objects in the area have raised hopes that the jet may be there.
Most of the 239 people on board were Chinese. Beijing has criticised Malaysia's handling of the search for the plane, now missing for 15 days.
The two Chinese aircraft have been flown in from Malaysia, where they were helping with the search further north.
Six other planes are already at the Perth base, and scoured an area of the Indian Ocean the size of Denmark on Saturday.
But the mission found no debris.
Ships supporting the search are already in the area, or are on their way.
The Australian navy's HMAS Success, which is large enough to recover any debris if needed, has arrived in the search area.
The two Chinese planes will join six other jets in the search team
A Japanese military plane left Malaysia for Australia on Sunday
Crews had another day of fruitless searching on Saturday
The Boeing-777 disappeared on 8 March; two thirds of the passengers were Chinese.
China on Saturday released a satellite image showing an object floating in the southern Indian Ocean near to the area already being searched, some 2,500 km (1,550 miles) south-west of Perth.
The grainy image was released by China's State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense.
The find was announced by Malaysia's Acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein amid a routine briefing in Kuala Lumpur.
The Xinhua state news agency said the latest satellite image was taken at about 04:00 GMT on 18 March and showed objects about 120km "south by west" from the first site.
Other satellite images of possible aircraft debris in a nearby area were released earlier in the week.
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said the sightings were encouraging signs.
"Obviously we have now had a number of very credible leads and there is increasing hope - no more than hope, no more than hope - that we might be on the road to discovering what did happen to this ill-fated aircraft," he said.
However the floating object seen in the new satellite image was not spotted.
At his briefing, Acting Transport Minister Hussein also said investigations of the plane's cargo manifest did "not show any link to anything that may have contribution to the plane's disappearance".
He also referred to the angry scenes as Malaysian officials briefed Chinese relatives in Beijing.
"Government of Malaysia, tell us the truth - give us back our loved ones," relatives shouted at the Lido Hotel.
Mr Hussein admitted the briefing had been "tense" and an investigation was under way to try to improve the situation.
The search has been in two distinct corridors - one stretching to the north-west of the last known location in the Malacca Straits and one to the south-west.
The locations were based on a data "ping" apparently sent to a satellite from the missing plane hours after it vanished from other indicators.
However, on Saturday, Mr Hussein said that China, India, Pakistan, Myanmar (Burma) and several other nations had informed Malaysia that analysis of their radar records had revealed no evidence of flight MH370 crossing their airspace.
Malaysia flight MH370: China jets boost Indian Ocean hunt
Two
Chinese military planes have arrived in Perth in Australia to join
international search operations for the missing Malaysia Airlines jet.
Crews are scouring vast areas of the southern Indian Ocean for a fourth day.Two sets of satellite images showing floating objects in the area have raised hopes that the jet may be there.
Most of the 239 people on board were Chinese. Beijing has criticised Malaysia's handling of the search for the plane, now missing for 15 days.
The two Chinese aircraft have been flown in from Malaysia, where they were helping with the search further north.
Six other planes are already at the Perth base, and scoured an area of the Indian Ocean the size of Denmark on Saturday.
But the mission found no debris.
Ships supporting the search are already in the area, or are on their way.
The Australian navy's HMAS Success, which is large enough to recover any debris if needed, has arrived in the search area.
The two Chinese planes will join six other jets in the search team
A Japanese military plane left Malaysia for Australia on Sunday
Crews had another day of fruitless searching on Saturday
The Boeing-777 disappeared on 8 March; two thirds of the passengers were Chinese.
China on Saturday released a satellite image showing an object floating in the southern Indian Ocean near to the area already being searched, some 2,500 km (1,550 miles) south-west of Perth.
The grainy image was released by China's State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense.
The find was announced by Malaysia's Acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein amid a routine briefing in Kuala Lumpur.
The Xinhua state news agency said the latest satellite image was taken at about 04:00 GMT on 18 March and showed objects about 120km "south by west" from the first site.
Other satellite images of possible aircraft debris in a nearby area were released earlier in the week.
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said the sightings were encouraging signs.
"Obviously we have now had a number of very credible leads and there is increasing hope - no more than hope, no more than hope - that we might be on the road to discovering what did happen to this ill-fated aircraft," he said.
However the floating object seen in the new satellite image was not spotted.
At his briefing, Acting Transport Minister Hussein also said investigations of the plane's cargo manifest did "not show any link to anything that may have contribution to the plane's disappearance".
He also referred to the angry scenes as Malaysian officials briefed Chinese relatives in Beijing.
"Government of Malaysia, tell us the truth - give us back our loved ones," relatives shouted at the Lido Hotel.
Mr Hussein admitted the briefing had been "tense" and an investigation was under way to try to improve the situation.
The search has been in two distinct corridors - one stretching to the north-west of the last known location in the Malacca Straits and one to the south-west.
The locations were based on a data "ping" apparently sent to a satellite from the missing plane hours after it vanished from other indicators.
However, on Saturday, Mr Hussein said that China, India, Pakistan, Myanmar (Burma) and several other nations had informed Malaysia that analysis of their radar records had revealed no evidence of flight MH370 crossing their airspace.
Malaysia flight MH370: China jets boost Indian Ocean hunt
Two
Chinese military planes have arrived in Perth in Australia to join
international search operations for the missing Malaysia Airlines jet.
Crews are scouring vast areas of the southern Indian Ocean for a fourth day.Two sets of satellite images showing floating objects in the area have raised hopes that the jet may be there.
Most of the 239 people on board were Chinese. Beijing has criticised Malaysia's handling of the search for the plane, now missing for 15 days.
The two Chinese aircraft have been flown in from Malaysia, where they were helping with the search further north.
Six other planes are already at the Perth base, and scoured an area of the Indian Ocean the size of Denmark on Saturday.
But the mission found no debris.
Ships supporting the search are already in the area, or are on their way.
The Australian navy's HMAS Success, which is large enough to recover any debris if needed, has arrived in the search area.
The two Chinese planes will join six other jets in the search team
A Japanese military plane left Malaysia for Australia on Sunday
Crews had another day of fruitless searching on Saturday
The Boeing-777 disappeared on 8 March; two thirds of the passengers were Chinese.
China on Saturday released a satellite image showing an object floating in the southern Indian Ocean near to the area already being searched, some 2,500 km (1,550 miles) south-west of Perth.
The grainy image was released by China's State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense.
The find was announced by Malaysia's Acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein amid a routine briefing in Kuala Lumpur.
The Xinhua state news agency said the latest satellite image was taken at about 04:00 GMT on 18 March and showed objects about 120km "south by west" from the first site.
Other satellite images of possible aircraft debris in a nearby area were released earlier in the week.
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said the sightings were encouraging signs.
"Obviously we have now had a number of very credible leads and there is increasing hope - no more than hope, no more than hope - that we might be on the road to discovering what did happen to this ill-fated aircraft," he said.
However the floating object seen in the new satellite image was not spotted.
At his briefing, Acting Transport Minister Hussein also said investigations of the plane's cargo manifest did "not show any link to anything that may have contribution to the plane's disappearance".
He also referred to the angry scenes as Malaysian officials briefed Chinese relatives in Beijing.
"Government of Malaysia, tell us the truth - give us back our loved ones," relatives shouted at the Lido Hotel.
Mr Hussein admitted the briefing had been "tense" and an investigation was under way to try to improve the situation.
The search has been in two distinct corridors - one stretching to the north-west of the last known location in the Malacca Straits and one to the south-west.
The locations were based on a data "ping" apparently sent to a satellite from the missing plane hours after it vanished from other indicators.
However, on Saturday, Mr Hussein said that China, India, Pakistan, Myanmar (Burma) and several other nations had informed Malaysia that analysis of their radar records had revealed no evidence of flight MH370 crossing their airspace.
Malaysia flight MH370: China jets boost Indian Ocean hunt
Two
Chinese military planes have arrived in Perth in Australia to join
international search operations for the missing Malaysia Airlines jet.
Crews are scouring vast areas of the southern Indian Ocean for a fourth day.Two sets of satellite images showing floating objects in the area have raised hopes that the jet may be there.
Most of the 239 people on board were Chinese. Beijing has criticised Malaysia's handling of the search for the plane, now missing for 15 days.
The two Chinese aircraft have been flown in from Malaysia, where they were helping with the search further north.
Six other planes are already at the Perth base, and scoured an area of the Indian Ocean the size of Denmark on Saturday.
But the mission found no debris.
Ships supporting the search are already in the area, or are on their way.
The Australian navy's HMAS Success, which is large enough to recover any debris if needed, has arrived in the search area.
The two Chinese planes will join six other jets in the search team
A Japanese military plane left Malaysia for Australia on Sunday
Crews had another day of fruitless searching on Saturday
The Boeing-777 disappeared on 8 March; two thirds of the passengers were Chinese.
China on Saturday released a satellite image showing an object floating in the southern Indian Ocean near to the area already being searched, some 2,500 km (1,550 miles) south-west of Perth.
The grainy image was released by China's State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense.
The find was announced by Malaysia's Acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein amid a routine briefing in Kuala Lumpur.
The Xinhua state news agency said the latest satellite image was taken at about 04:00 GMT on 18 March and showed objects about 120km "south by west" from the first site.
Other satellite images of possible aircraft debris in a nearby area were released earlier in the week.
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said the sightings were encouraging signs.
"Obviously we have now had a number of very credible leads and there is increasing hope - no more than hope, no more than hope - that we might be on the road to discovering what did happen to this ill-fated aircraft," he said.
However the floating object seen in the new satellite image was not spotted.
At his briefing, Acting Transport Minister Hussein also said investigations of the plane's cargo manifest did "not show any link to anything that may have contribution to the plane's disappearance".
He also referred to the angry scenes as Malaysian officials briefed Chinese relatives in Beijing.
"Government of Malaysia, tell us the truth - give us back our loved ones," relatives shouted at the Lido Hotel.
Mr Hussein admitted the briefing had been "tense" and an investigation was under way to try to improve the situation.
The search has been in two distinct corridors - one stretching to the north-west of the last known location in the Malacca Straits and one to the south-west.
The locations were based on a data "ping" apparently sent to a satellite from the missing plane hours after it vanished from other indicators.
However, on Saturday, Mr Hussein said that China, India, Pakistan, Myanmar (Burma) and several other nations had informed Malaysia that analysis of their radar records had revealed no evidence of flight MH370 crossing their airspace.
Malaysia flight MH370: China jets boost Indian Ocean hunt
Two
Chinese military planes have arrived in Perth in Australia to join
international search operations for the missing Malaysia Airlines jet.
Crews are scouring vast areas of the southern Indian Ocean for a fourth day.Two sets of satellite images showing floating objects in the area have raised hopes that the jet may be there.
Most of the 239 people on board were Chinese. Beijing has criticised Malaysia's handling of the search for the plane, now missing for 15 days.
The two Chinese aircraft have been flown in from Malaysia, where they were helping with the search further north.
Six other planes are already at the Perth base, and scoured an area of the Indian Ocean the size of Denmark on Saturday.
But the mission found no debris.
Ships supporting the search are already in the area, or are on their way.
The Australian navy's HMAS Success, which is large enough to recover any debris if needed, has arrived in the search area.
The two Chinese planes will join six other jets in the search team
A Japanese military plane left Malaysia for Australia on Sunday
Crews had another day of fruitless searching on Saturday
The Boeing-777 disappeared on 8 March; two thirds of the passengers were Chinese.
China on Saturday released a satellite image showing an object floating in the southern Indian Ocean near to the area already being searched, some 2,500 km (1,550 miles) south-west of Perth.
The grainy image was released by China's State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense.
The find was announced by Malaysia's Acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein amid a routine briefing in Kuala Lumpur.
The Xinhua state news agency said the latest satellite image was taken at about 04:00 GMT on 18 March and showed objects about 120km "south by west" from the first site.
Other satellite images of possible aircraft debris in a nearby area were released earlier in the week.
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said the sightings were encouraging signs.
"Obviously we have now had a number of very credible leads and there is increasing hope - no more than hope, no more than hope - that we might be on the road to discovering what did happen to this ill-fated aircraft," he said.
However the floating object seen in the new satellite image was not spotted.
At his briefing, Acting Transport Minister Hussein also said investigations of the plane's cargo manifest did "not show any link to anything that may have contribution to the plane's disappearance".
He also referred to the angry scenes as Malaysian officials briefed Chinese relatives in Beijing.
"Government of Malaysia, tell us the truth - give us back our loved ones," relatives shouted at the Lido Hotel.
Mr Hussein admitted the briefing had been "tense" and an investigation was under way to try to improve the situation.
The search has been in two distinct corridors - one stretching to the north-west of the last known location in the Malacca Straits and one to the south-west.
The locations were based on a data "ping" apparently sent to a satellite from the missing plane hours after it vanished from other indicators.
However, on Saturday, Mr Hussein said that China, India, Pakistan, Myanmar (Burma) and several other nations had informed Malaysia that analysis of their radar records had revealed no evidence of flight MH370 crossing their airspace.
Malaysia flight MH370: China jets boost Indian Ocean hunt
Two
Chinese military planes have arrived in Perth in Australia to join
international search operations for the missing Malaysia Airlines jet.
Crews are scouring vast areas of the southern Indian Ocean for a fourth day.Two sets of satellite images showing floating objects in the area have raised hopes that the jet may be there.
Most of the 239 people on board were Chinese. Beijing has criticised Malaysia's handling of the search for the plane, now missing for 15 days.
The two Chinese aircraft have been flown in from Malaysia, where they were helping with the search further north.
Six other planes are already at the Perth base, and scoured an area of the Indian Ocean the size of Denmark on Saturday.
But the mission found no debris.
Ships supporting the search are already in the area, or are on their way.
The Australian navy's HMAS Success, which is large enough to recover any debris if needed, has arrived in the search area.
The two Chinese planes will join six other jets in the search team
A Japanese military plane left Malaysia for Australia on Sunday
Crews had another day of fruitless searching on Saturday
The Boeing-777 disappeared on 8 March; two thirds of the passengers were Chinese.
China on Saturday released a satellite image showing an object floating in the southern Indian Ocean near to the area already being searched, some 2,500 km (1,550 miles) south-west of Perth.
The grainy image was released by China's State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense.
The find was announced by Malaysia's Acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein amid a routine briefing in Kuala Lumpur.
The Xinhua state news agency said the latest satellite image was taken at about 04:00 GMT on 18 March and showed objects about 120km "south by west" from the first site.
Other satellite images of possible aircraft debris in a nearby area were released earlier in the week.
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said the sightings were encouraging signs.
"Obviously we have now had a number of very credible leads and there is increasing hope - no more than hope, no more than hope - that we might be on the road to discovering what did happen to this ill-fated aircraft," he said.
However the floating object seen in the new satellite image was not spotted.
At his briefing, Acting Transport Minister Hussein also said investigations of the plane's cargo manifest did "not show any link to anything that may have contribution to the plane's disappearance".
He also referred to the angry scenes as Malaysian officials briefed Chinese relatives in Beijing.
"Government of Malaysia, tell us the truth - give us back our loved ones," relatives shouted at the Lido Hotel.
Mr Hussein admitted the briefing had been "tense" and an investigation was under way to try to improve the situation.
The search has been in two distinct corridors - one stretching to the north-west of the last known location in the Malacca Straits and one to the south-west.
The locations were based on a data "ping" apparently sent to a satellite from the missing plane hours after it vanished from other indicators.
However, on Saturday, Mr Hussein said that China, India, Pakistan, Myanmar (Burma) and several other nations had informed Malaysia that analysis of their radar records had revealed no evidence of flight MH370 crossing their airspace.
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