Mme H

Court	Conseil d’Etat, France
Case number	311793
Decision title	Decision of the Conseil d’Etat
Decision date	16 October 2009
Parties	Agathe Kanziga Habyarimana Appeals Commission for Refugees
Categories	Genocide
Keywords	genocide, jurisdiction
Links	Decision
Other countries involved	Rwanda

Summary

Agathe Habyarimana (maiden name: Agathe Kanzigas) is the widow of former Rwandan President Juvénal Habyarimana whose death on 6 April 1994 marked the beginning of the Rwandan genocide that was to result in the death of some 500,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus within the lapse of a few months. Agathe Habyarimana is frequently regarded as one of the powers behind Juvénal habyarimana’s Presidencey and as part of the inner circle responsible for the planification and organisation of the Rwandan genocide. On 9 April 1994, she was airlifted to France.

In July 2004, she applied for refugee status but her application was denied by the French Office of Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons (OFPRA). The rejection was confirmed on appeal by the Appeals Commission for Refugees in February 2007.

On appeal to the Conseil d’Etat, the highest administrative court in France, Agathe Habyarimana sought to prove that the Appeals Commission had committed an error in law and in fact when it concluded that she had participated in the planning, organising and direction of the genocide in Rwanda since 1990 and ultimately denied her request to overturn the rejection of her request for refugee status. The Conseil d’Etat rejected the appeal by a decision of 16 October 2009.

Procedural history

On 8 July 2004, Agathe Kanziga Habyarimana, the widow of former Rwandan President Juvénal Habyarimana, filed an application for asylum in France with the French Office of Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons (OFPRA).

On 4 January 2007, the Director General of OFPRA rejected the request for asylum.

On appeal, by a decision of 15 February 2007, the Appeals Commission for Refugees (CRR) also rejected the request for asylum (only in French)on the grounds that the appellant was certainly involved as an instigator or accomplice in the genocide committed in Rwanda in 1994 and was therefore ineligible for refugee status under the Geneva Convention on Refugees on 15 February 2007.

On 24 December 2007, Agathe Habyarimana appealed to the Conseil d’Etat, the highest administrative court in France.

Related developments

On 2 March 2010, Agathe Habyarimana was arrested in France in fulfilment of an international arrest warrant issued by the Rwandan government for genocide, complicity in genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide, creation of a criminal gang, murder and conspiracy to commit murder, extermination, and public incitement to commit genocide. She was released on condition that she remain in France.

See also L. Davies, 'Widow of Assassinated Rwandan President Arrested, The Guardian, 2 March 2010; and P. Gourevitch, 'The Arrest of Madame Agathe', The New Yorker, 2 March 2010.

Absent an extradition treaty between France and Rwanda, cases are decided on an individual basis. On 28 September 2011, the Court of Appeal for Paris rejected Rwanda’s extradition request for Habyarimana.

See also BBC, 'France Rejects Rwanda’s Habyarimana Extradition Bid', BBC News, 28 September 2011; AP, 'France Must not Extradite former Rwandan President’s Wife, Court Rules, The Guardian, 28 September 2011; and P-A Souchard, 'Agathe Habyarimana, Rwanda Ex-First Lady, Won’t Be Extradited', The Huffington Post, 28 September 2011.

Legally relevant facts

The 1994 Rwandan genocide was planned by some of the highest ranked individuals within the politicla party in power and had commenced as early as 1990. The applicant, Agathe Habyarimana, was part of this inner circle named «Akazu» and is implicated in the actions of the Rwandan government prior to the commencement of the genocide in 1994, including the massacre of Tutsis from 1990 onwards (pp. 2-3).

Core legal questions

Did the Appeals Commission for Refugees commit an error of law when it rejected the request to overturn the implicit rejection of Agathe Habyarimana’s asylum application on grounds of her alleged involvement in the 1994 Rwandan genocide?

Specific legal rules and provisions

Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
Article 1(F)(a) of the Geneva Convention relating to the Status of Refugees.
Article L. 712-2 pf the Code of Entry and Stay for Aliens and Asylum Seekers.

Court's holding and analysis

Article 1(F)(a) of the 1951 Geneva Convention provides that refugee status shall not be accorded to persons in respect of whom there are serious reasons to believe that they have committed a crime against the peace, a war crime or a crime against humanity. Article L. 712-2 of the Code of Entry and Stay for Aliens and Asylum Seekers equally provides that asylum seekers shall not benefit from subsidiary protection if there are serious reasons to believe that they have committed a crime against the peace, a war crime or a crime against humanity. The Appeals Commission for Refugees did not commit an error of law or of fact when it concluded that the applicant, Agathe Habyarimana, fell within the terms of the above statutes and whose application for asylum was therefore rightly rejected. The Appeals Commission was, for this purpose, entitled to rely upon the testimony of anonymous witnesses in proceedings before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (p. 3).

The grounds of appeal related to the violations of the applicants’ rights to private and familial life guaranteed by Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights are inapplicable as the decision which forms the subject of appeal is not one which has for object or effect the granting or denial of the right to stay in France (p. 3).

The appeal is rejected (p. 4).