The prosecutor demands that judges refrain from a French role in the genocide in Rwanda

The French prosecutor’s office said on Monday that there was no reason to claim that France was responsible for the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.

Rwanda published a report last month stating that France was aware that genocide was being prepared in Rwanda before the assassination.

France’s chief prosecutor, Remy Heitz, said in a statement that investigations by French authorities could not prove the involvement of French troops in the killings orchestrated by the Hutu-led government.

Between April and July 1994, about 800,000 people were killed, most from the ethnic Tutsi minority but also some moderate Hutus.

Ever since the genocide, critics of France’s role have said that the then French president Francois Mitterrand failed to prevent the massacres or even supported the Hutu-led government.

(REUTERS)