French judges dismissed a case against Agathe Habyarimana, widow of Rwanda’s former president, on August 21, 2025, citing insufficient evidence linking her to the 1994 genocide that killed approximately 800,000 people, mostly Tutsis.

The Paris-based investigating judges ruled that there are “insufficient charges against Agathe Kanziga (Habyarimana) to show she could have been an accomplice to genocide” or participated in a “conspiracy to commit genocide,” according to court documents obtained by AFP.

Habyarimana, 82, who has lived in France since 1998, was investigated since 2008 following a complaint by a French victims’ association alleging her involvement in the Hutu-led power circle that orchestrated the killings.

The judges described Habyarimana as a victim of the April 1994 attack that killed her husband, President Juvénal Habyarimana, when his plane was shot down, an event that sparked the 100-day genocide. “To date, Agathe Kanziga appears not as the perpetrator of genocide, but as a victim of the terrorist attack,” the ruling stated. Habyarimana fled Rwanda with French assistance days after the incident.

Rwanda has repeatedly sought her extradition, but the dismissal makes a French trial highly unlikely. Supporters of the decision argue the lack of evidence clears Habyarimana of responsibility, while critics, including Rwandan authorities, maintain that her proximity to power warrants further scrutiny. The ruling closes a significant chapter in France’s legal reckoning with the genocide.