French army officers set to avoid charges over Rwanda massacre claims

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Investigating magistrates in France have been probing the actions of a group of senior French military officers in relation to a massacre at Bisesero in Rwanda, one of the grim episodes in the genocide committed against the Tutsi people in 1994. For 13 years the judges have investigated the potential responsibility of the French military over that massacre amid claims that senior officers were slow to react to warnings that Tutsis were in mortal danger at that site. But Mediapart understands that the magistrates have now finished their probe with no individuals being placed under formal investigation, paving the way for the case to be dismissed with no trial. Fabrice Arfi reports.

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After 13 years of investigation, a judicial probe into the possible criminal responsibility of the French military in the massacre at Bisesero – one of the most embarrassing episodes for France during its military presence in Rwanda at the time of the 1994 Hutu genocide against the Tutsi people – has come to an end in Paris.

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