Ex-Radio Rwanda journalist detained in France over 1994 genocide
PARIS: A journalist at the government Radio Rwanda during the 1994 genocide of ethnic Tutsis was charged and detained in France at the end of April, a source close to the case told AFP on Thursday.
The anti-terrorism prosecutor's office (PNAT) confirmed that Hyacinthe Bicamumpaka was indicted for genocide, complicity in crimes against humanity and conspiracy.
His pre-trial detention was upheld on appeal on May 9, according to a judicial source.
Alongside Radio Mille Collines, which was nicknamed "Radio Genocide" or "Hutu Power Radio", Radio Rwanda was the official Hutu government radio station during the genocide.
Bicamumpaka was a "prominent journalist" who was "very close to the main planners of the genocide", the executive secretary of the genocide survivors' group Ibuka, Naphtali Ahishakiye told AFP.
In 2021, French online investigative news outlet Mediapart said Bicamumpaka was in France with two other Rwandans suspected of having taken part in the genocide.
France's OCLCH crimes against humanity unit began an investigation soon after.
Bicamumpaka arrived in France in June 1994, with Rwanda in the grip of the genocide, according to French authorities.
His refugee request, consulted online, stated that the Hutu origin journalist claimed he could not return to his country where "members of his ethnic group are now persecuted", and said he actively worked through his broadcasts to promote peace.
His asylum claim was rejected, with the refugee commission stating that Radio Rwanda was a "vehicle of government propaganda at a time when the Rwandan government notoriously tolerated and encouraged a genocide against the Tutsi population".
As a journalist for the station, "Mr Bicamumpaka could not ignore that he contributed, even indirectly, to the perpetration of mass murder", it added.
The genocide by the Hutu regime in power between April and July 1994 resulted in about 800,000 deaths, according to the UN. The overwhelming majority were from the Tutsi minority.
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