Habyarimana widow seeks asylum in France. (Picture: iRwanda)
Habyarimana widow seeks asylum in France
The widow of assassinated Rwandan president Juvénal Habyarimana is launching an appeal after her application for asylum in France was rejected by the Council of State.
Agatha Habyarimana’s previous applications to the French Refugee Agency and the French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons had been denied on the grounds that she was believed to be at the heart of the regime responsible for the genocide in Rwanda in 1994.
She has always maintained that she had no power.
The attack on her husband’s plane in 1994 is seen as the trigger for the Rwandan genocide, in which 800 000 people died according to the UN. Mrs Habyarimana was evacuated early on by French forces and has been living in France since 1994.
The Council of State will deliver its decision in a few weeks.
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