An appeals court in Paris, France has rejected a request to reopen an investigation into the 1994 downing of a plane that killed Rwanda’s president Juvenal Habyarimana, which marked the start of the genocide against the Tutsi.
The French court had been asked for new investigations into the 2018 decision to throw out the probe against nine former members of RPA some who included top Rwandan officials, the case had previously tainted relations between Rwanda and France.
The lawyers of families of those who died along with Habyarimana when his plane was downed said will appeal the decision to France’s highest court, according to AFP.
Habyarimana’s plane was shot down on April 6, 1994 as it descended on Kigali airport, aboard the plane was Burundi’s president Cyprien Ntaryamira who was also killed in the crush and French crew.
A probe was opened in France in 1998 at the request of families of the French crew.
