The ruling upheld the verdict delivered on October 30, 2024, following an appeal trial that lasted for more than a month, from June 8 to July 18, 2026.
For the appeal proceedings, Rwamucyo was represented by a new team of seven lawyers. Among them was Jean-Baptiste Harelimana, a Rwandan lawyer who told the court that he had attended the Petit Séminaire de Butare during his secondary education.
The crimes for which Rwamucyo was convicted were committed in four communes of the former Butare Prefecture: Ngoma, Gishamvu, Ndora and Huye. At the time, he was Director of the Centre Universitaire de Santé Publique (CUSP) at the former National University of Rwanda (UNR) and was also serving as acting head of the Butare Health Region(Région sanitaire).
Unprecedented incidents during the trial
In an interview with IGIHE, André Martin Karongozi, one of the lawyers representing the civil parties, said the trial was marked by a number of unusual incidents targeting survivors of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, as well as the RPF-Inkotanyi.
According to him, the first major incident occurred on the day the first genocide survivors, who had travelled from Rwanda specifically to testify before the court, took the stand.
As the first witness—a survivor represented by lawyer Karongozi—had just recounted her experience during the three months of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi and was awaiting questioning by the court and the parties, two people seated among Rwamucyo’s relatives and supporters suddenly stood up. Waving flags, one of them wearing a black face mask, they shouted slogans targeting President Paul Kagame.
French gendarmes immediately intervened and removed the protesters from the courtroom. The presiding judge ordered a suspension of the hearing to restore calm, allow security officers to assess the situation, and ensure the witness could continue testifying under appropriate conditions. The individuals involved were identified, and photos were taken for further investigation.
A traumatic experience for survivors
The lawyer said the disruption deeply traumatized the witness as well as several genocide survivors present in the courtroom.
The witness was unable to sleep throughout the night following the testimony. The next morning, his condition deteriorated to the point that an ambulance had to be called. After receiving medical attention, she was later able to go back to Rwanda.
According to Lawyer Karongozi, the fact that such an incident occurred on the very first day survivors testified suggests that it had been planned in advance.
A social media disinformation campaign
The lawyer also alleged that Rwamucyo’s supporters published very often distorted accounts of the court proceedings on social media in an effort to discredit the lawyers representing the civil parties as well as the Advocate General( prosecutor).
Toward the end of the trial, false claims began circulating that the lawyer had secretly met with Eugène Rwamucyo and had, moreover, distanced himself from the RPF-Inkotanyi.
According to him, these allegations were entirely fabricated.
Other lawyers were also targeted, including Richard Gisagara, lawyer Michel Laval, representative of the Collectif des Parties Civiles pour le Rwanda (CPCR), and the Advocate General.
Large-scale mobilization of Rwamucyo’s supporters
The lawyer said information circulating during the proceedings indicated that Rwamucyo’s supporters had planned to bring nearly 200 sympathizers to the courthouse in an attempt to exert pressure on the court. As a result, from July 16, judicial authorities significantly reinforced security measures around the courthouse.
Unprecedented support for a genocide convict
According to Karongozi, a lawyer who has represented civil parties before the assize courts since 2005, Eugène Rwamucyo is the first Rwandan prosecuted over the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi to receive such a large show of support inside French or Belgian courtrooms.
He was told that some of those supporters may themselves have participated in the genocide.
He also noted that Rwamucyo called several witnesses known for denying or distorting the Genocide against the Tutsi including:
- Patrick Mbeko, author of some writings about Rwanda whose statements were rejected during the hearing by one of Rwamucyo’s lawyers;
- The former Commander of the Rwandan Gendarmerie, General Augustin Ndindiliyimana, who dared to say that the speech of April 19, 1994 in Butare by Théodore Sindikubwabo was positive;
- Hervé Deguine, whose views align with those expressed by Pierre Péan in his book Noires fureurs, blancs menteurs): Tutsi are born liars, and the Hutu who hang out with them are tainted by it.
A different defense strategy on appeal
Finally, Lawyer Karongozi observed that Rwamucyo adopted a different approach during the appeal from the one he had taken during his first trial.
Having remained in custody since his 2024 conviction despite appealing the verdict, Rwamucyo spoke before the court about the hardships of prison life, even explaining that he once had to clean his prison cell soiled by the previous inmate.
According to the lawyer, this was part of a strategy aimed at gaining the court’s sympathy. On several occasions, Rwamucyo said he bowed in memory of the victims of the genocide and acknowledged the suffering of survivors, hoping to be cleared of all charges or to get a reduced sentence.
However, the lawyer argued that these statements failed to convince the court. In his view, despite expressing sympathy for the victims, Rwamucyo never changed his fundamental position. Instead, he continued to endorse the ideology of Parmehutu and the Coalition pour la Défense de la République (CDR), claiming that Tutsi victims had been killed by fellow Tutsi under the direction of the RPF-Inkotanyi and that the RPF was responsible for the massacres.
For Karongozi, these statements demonstrated that the accused had never abandoned a genocide denial narrative, which helps explain why the Paris Court of Assizes upheld both his conviction and his 27-year prison sentence.
karirima@igihe.com
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