During the seven weeks of his trial Before the Paris criminal court, in 2023, Philippe Hategekimana, naturalized French in 2005 under the name Philippe Manier, had practically remained silent. However, a few hours before his sentencing, on June 28, the former chief non-commissioned officer of the gendarmerie in Nyanza, southern Rwanda, spoke to say ” sure ” about the fact that the court was going to hear “his reason and his heart”.
After a twelve-hour deliberation, he was finally sentenced to life imprisonment for imprescriptible acts related to the genocide of the Tutsi, which left between 800,000 and one million dead in the spring of 1994. The jury had found him guilty of “practically everything counts”, saccording to the court. “V.You were a zealous agent in the plan to exterminate the Tutsis. », concluded the president, Jean-Marc Lavergne.
The appeal trial of the former Rwandan gendarme will begin on Monday, November 4, once again before the Paris Criminal Court. At 67 years old, he is under universal jurisdiction, a principle that since 2010 has allowed France to try the perpetrators of serious crimes, regardless of the place where they were committed. “We want the truth to finally come to light, assures METROmy Emmanuel Altit, one of the accused’s lawyers. If everyone makes the effort to seriously examine the evidence and listen to what everyone says, it will appear that my client played no role in the genocide. »
A hundred witnesses on the stand
According to the indictment, a 170-page document established in September 2021 that the world was able to consult, Philippe Manier is accused of having notably used “the powers and military strength conferred by his rank to commit and participate as the perpetrator of the genocide. » In the first instance, 105 witnesses appeared on the stand. They told how the former gendarme had ordered the construction of “barriers”Checkpoints were set up on the roads where hundreds of Tutsis were massacred.
The nine members of the court (the president, two advisors and six jurors) also considered that he was behind the murder of a mayor, Narcisse Nyagasaza, who opposed the genocide in his commune. The one whom everyone nicknamed “Biguma”, after the name of a teacher from his village known for his severity, was also condemned for having actively participated in the Nyamure massacre, where more than 10,000 Tutsis were murdered.
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