{{Understanding Captain Pascal Simbikangwa}}
Capt. Simbikangwa was born in the northwestern Rwandan town of Rambura in 1959 and he is believed to be a relative of former Rwandan president Juvénal Habyarimana, with whom France had close ties.
In 1986 he was involved in a car accident which resulted in his current disability. He still moves in a wheel chair.
Capt. Simbikangwa was a key intelligence officer who served in Habyarimana’s regime monitoring the activities of Tutsi community in the country.
Capt.Simbikangwa retained his anti-Tutsi sentiments which were evident from his chilling activities as a spy chief.
Following an attack on Rwanda by the Rwanda Patriotic Army rebels, Capt. Simbikangwa tortured several Tutsi’s most of whom he accused of working for the intelligence services of the RPF (Rwandan Patriotic Front).
Capt. Simbikangwa was one of the brains behind the Radio Mille Collines, which was primarily used to broadcast messages against Tutsi and encourage their slaughter.
As soon as the Hutu regime was ousted in 1994 by the Tutsi rebels, Capt.Simbikangwa fled the country with his family to the Democratic Republic of Congo before wading into Kenya and Cameroon.
He is believed to have entered in the French territory of Mayotte in 2005 but was apprehended by authorities in 2008 for possession of fake documents to support his travel. Capt. Simbikangwa was initially charged for posessing illegal papers.
French authorities were able to establish his true identity and it emerged that he was wanted by Interpol for “crimes against humanity, genocide and organised crime”.
In April 2009, he was indicted for genocide and organised crime related to the 1994 killings. Capt. Simbikangwa was then transferred to the French detention centre of Saint-Denis on the island of Reunion.
{{The Trial}}
Capt. Simbikangwa’s formal trial which began on 4 February is expected to continue through March.
Unusually for France, the trial – which is expected to last six to eight weeks – will be filmed, with recordings available once the case is concluded.
Capt. Simbikangwa said little in court, apart from reading out a brief statement in which he acknowledged that he was a “captain in the Rwandan army, then in the intelligence services”.
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