Overview
- The Paris appeals chamber overturned the August 2025 non-lieu on Wednesday and ordered the investigation into Agathe Habyarimana to continue.
- A non-lieu is a court finding that ends a case for lack of sufficient charges, which two investigating judges had granted to her last year.
- She has been under investigation in France since 2007 for suspected complicity in genocide and crimes against humanity, and since 2016 she has held the lesser status of assisted witness rather than being formally indicted.
- Prosecutors appealed and called the dismissal premature, citing serious or consistent indications and seeking added steps such as more witness interviews, face-to-face confrontations, and a full review of her asylum file.
- Victims’ groups argue she belonged to the Akazu inner circle that helped plan the killings, a claim she denies and that earlier judges had set aside.