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Rwanda Dismisses French Probe Into Plane Downing That Preceded 1994 Genocide as 'Farce'

© Gerard Gaudin(FILES) In this file photo taken on April 15, 2007 in Kigali shows the wreckage of the plane in which former Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana died in April 1994
(FILES) In this file photo taken on April 15, 2007 in Kigali shows the wreckage of the plane in which former Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana died in April 1994 - Sputnik International
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MOSCOW (Sputnik) - After several French courts refused to reopen the long-term investigation into the 1994 Rwandan presidential plane downing and the following genocide in the Eastern African country, Rwandan Justice Minister Busingye Johnston said on Friday that the French probe into the case was a "complete farce."

"The Court of Appeal of Paris has dismissed the 'Bruguiere Case,' on appeal. The first instance court also dismissed it. This so-called Bruguire Case has been a travesty of justice, a total and complete farce that should not have happened in the first place," Johnston wrote on Twitter.

​The ongoing French investigation on the matter targeted several Rwandan government officials close to the current president, Paul Kagame. The probe caused damage to the bilateral relations between the two countries.

In 2018, France’s investigating judges decided to end the investigation, but families of the victims of the genocide appealed the decision. On Friday, it was upheld by the Paris appeals court.

The 1994 genocide in Rwanda began after a plane carrying President Juvenal Habyarimana, an ethnic Hutu, was shot down over Kigali airport on April 6, killing Habyarimana and the president of neighbouring Burundi, Cyprien Ntaryamira.

FILE - In this April 6, 2004 file photo, Apollan Odetta, a survivor from the 1994 Rwandan Genocide light candles at a mass grave in Nyamata, Rwanda - Sputnik International
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The plane crash was followed by 100 days of massacres against the Tutsi, Rwanda's ethnic minority, and moderate Hutus.

As the presidential plane had a French staff, the Rwandan government denounced France for involvement in the accident and subsequent mass slaughters. France has denied such accusations.

The relations between France and Rwanda slightly improved after incumbent French President Emmanuel Macron set up a commission to determine the role of France in the 1994 Rwanda genocide.

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