Philippe Hategekimana: GUILTY of genocide – life sentence affirmed after appeal dismissed

A court sketch drawn on 10 May of former Rwandan gendarme Philippe Hategekimana during his trial at the cour d’assises in Paris. Photograph: Benoît Peyrucq/AFP

UPDATE 18 December 2024: After a 6 week appeal, the verdict of GUILTY was reaffirmed late on the evening of 17 December following that of Philippe Hategekimana, alias Manier/Biguma’s trial last summer. His sentence of life in prison was also upheld for the horrific crimes which he had continued to deny throughout the proceedings. In his sentencing remarks the court President Marc Sommerer told the former policeman that ‘You were a most enthusiastic arm of the genocide […] certainly not the only one, but without you the events would not have reached such proportions…. “You have used your authority and prestige … you have taken an active part in the murder of the elderly, women and children.’
The court heard the gendarme had used his authority to work with the interahahmwe (militia), setting up dozens of road blocks where Tutsis were stopped and murdered. Hategekimana had taken steps to remove and murder the local bourgmeister (mayor) of Narcisse Nyagasaza of Ntyazo commune in Nyanza, near Butare in the south of Rwanda after this brave man tried to  prevent the genocide from being enacted. Witnesses spoke of how Hategekimana, given the nickname ‘Biguma’ after a particularly severe teacher, became infamous in the locality for leading the killing, including personally firing into groups of women to start one particular massacre. His defence team used the usual tactics of dismissing survivor and witness accounts as either factually wrong or being the product of political machinations by the Rwandan government. Hategekimana’s own recollections of events and times changed several times – making his testimony quite unbelievable.
Over the six week hearing, 100 witnesses were heard. Some remembered Hategekimana’s actions at roadblocks such as at Akazu K’amazi where a group of 28 Tutsis were slaughtered, or leading attacks against the defenceless, terrified Tutsis gathered on hills such as Nyaburare. As with so many genocidaire, Hategekimana had fled the scene of his terrible crimes and made his way to France to start a new life under a new name (‘Philip Manier’), without sparing a thought for the suffering and misery of those whose lives he had ended or survivors left with a lifetime of pain. Naturalised as a French citizen in 2005, he had worked as a fire safety officer at the University of Rennes until a French NGO, the CPCR, had uncovered his real history and launched a legal complaint against him. It then took 15 years to get him to face justice. As with all such killers there were no words of remorse, only more lies and denial from Hategekimana, who pleaded with the court before noting ‘my life is ruined.’ How about the lives of the many you killed, Monsieur Hategekimana? or the lives of those condemned to live without their families because of you? Did you not ruin them – and then flee to save your own sorry skin?
It was noticeable that the British journalist Michaela Wrong, who has recently made a good living on the back of her personal hatred of the current Rwandan president (who she blames for the murder of her very close friend Patrick Karegeya), gave testimony in defence of this mass murderer. One suspects Wrong will now happily testify in the defence of all alleged genocidaires facing justice – including the 6 in the UK if such proceedings ever start. Wrong’s ‘testimony’ certainly dovetails nicely with the usual defence tactic of blaming all the ills of Rwanda – including the genocide against the Tutsi – on the current Rwandan leader.

UPDATE 3 November 2024
Tomorrow, 4 November, former Policeman Philippe Hategekimana, alias Manier/Biguma, will return to court for a 7 week appeal process again his sentence to life imprisonment, handed put 16 months ago by the Paris Assize Court. More news about the appeal as the process gets underway

DAILY RECORD OF THE TRIAL PROCEEDINGS FROM PARIS ACCESSED HERE
(translated from the French report by Alain Gauthier. Original on CPCR website – https://www.collectifpartiescivilesrwanda.fr/proces-philippe-manier)

Update: 28 June, 20.50 Paris time

Guilty!
The verdict in the 6 week trial of genocide suspect Philippe Hategekimana, alias Manier/Biguma, on trial in Paris at the court of Assizes was finally reached late evening on 28 June. The accused was found guilty of genocide and crimes against humanity.
Hategekimana has been sentenced to life in prison. 
The former police officer had steadfastly denied all the charges, and even knowing nearly all the witnesses who testified against him – many whom gave harrowing testimony of how their families were murdered in front of them, and how their lives were ripped apart during the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi.
Hategekimana refused to take the stand during the trial, issuing only a very short statement to proclaim his innocence at the tail end of the 6 weeks of evidence. His three children refused to testify, and his wife decided to avoid her own time in the witness box at the final moment, citing ill health. Hategekimana had told the court he would no longer make any comment on any question put to him. As a result he staunchly stayed silent in the closing stages of the trial despite the prosecution putting dozens of questions to him about his whereabouts during the time witnesses said he had taken part in genocidal attacks, accusations against him of personally killing Tutsis and that he ordered/directed the massacres of others in the southern district of Nyanza. To all of which questions and statements Hategekimana – or ‘Biguma’ as he was known – refused to answer or respond. Just a solitary ‘no comment’ to all except one question. ‘I’m not Biguma.’

Background:

The long-delayed trial of former police officer Philippe Hategekimana, alias Manier/Biguma, began at the Assize Court in central Paris on 10 May 2023. It marked 29 years after the genocide against the Tutsi and was the fifth trial to be held by France, current home to dozens of suspects who fled there after the genocidal regime fled in July 1994. A number of witnesses have testified that ‘Biguma’ was a leading figure in repeated attacks against Tutsis, working with interahahmwe militia to kill thousands around the area of Nyanza. His alibi that he was not in the region at the time of the killings has seemed less and less convincing as former interahahmwe and survivors have taken to the stand to testify against him. He has refused to explain why so many witnesses put him at the centre of attacks against the Tutsi, except to say he either does not know them or that they were all lying. Contradictory statements about where he was at the time – he says in was not in Nyanza in April and May 1994 – have further muddied the defence. His lawyers have, in the absence of their client giving evidence, noted that the witnesses were either lying or could not possibly remember the events due to the long time since the genocide or the trauma they had been through. Added to which was the usual conspiracy theory that all witnesses for the prosecution were somehow working on behalf of the political machinations of the Kigali government. Hategekimana’s defence team is led by Maitre Emmanuel Altit – who is also busy leading the defence of Felicien Kabuga at The Hague.
While there is undoubted relief that this killer will now face life behind bars for his terrible crimes, there is also considerable frustration that Hategekimana/Manier was able to live such a good life in France for so long, taking citizenship and it was only civil society groups who forced the state into legal action against him. It is clear this genocidaire is just one of dozens – yet most, at the current rate of French justice – will be rewarded for their crimes with French citizenship and a comfortable retirement. The French Republic has a long, long way to go not to become a Republic of genocide impunity. As witnesses get older – as do the perpetrators – trials that do not take place within the next few years will not be possible, as this case showed how reliant the cases are on visual testimony rather than documentation.

For more articles about the case see:

Justiceinfo.net, Genocide in Rwanda: The multiple lives of a Gendarmerie officer on trial in Paris

The Guardian: Former Rwanda police officer on trial in Paris accused of taking part in genocide

Justiceinfo.net: Fr. Hormisdas Nsengimana - controversial Catholic Priest is full of yet more denials - see no evil, hear no evil, do no evil in his court hearing.