VZCZCXRO9191
RR RUEHBZ RUEHDU RUEHMR RUEHPA RUEHRN RUEHTRO
DE RUEHFR #1349/01 2741443
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 011443Z OCT 09
FM AMEMBASSY PARIS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 7269
INFO RUEHZO/AFRICAN UNION COLLECTIVE
RUEAWJA/DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE WASHDC
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS 2708
RHMFISS/DEPT OF HOMELAND SECURITY WASHINGTON DC
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 1747
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
RHMFISS/HQ USAFRICOM STUTTGART GE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 PARIS 001349 

SIPDIS 

DEPARTMENT FOR AF/C, INL, L 

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/01/2019 
TAGS: PREL PHUM PINR KCRM KJUS RW FR
SUBJECT: RWANDA: FRENCH JUDGE ENDS QUESTIONING OF ROSE 
KABUYE 

Classified By: Andrew Young, Political Counselor, 1.4 (b/d). 

¶1. (C) SUMMARY: The French judge investigating events 
concerning the 1994 Rwandan genocide has dismissed the first 
Rwandan official questioned in the case. Rose Kabuye was 
granted freedom of movement when the judge on September 25 
lifted the international arrest warrant that was used to 
compel her testimony. She has reportedly agreed to cooperate 
with the investigation and may be subject to recall by the 
judge. In an effort to determine if there is a case to 
pursue, the judge in principle should interview the other 
eight Rwandans subject to the original arrest warrant, 
although this may take place in Rwanda. One MFA contact 
views this development as a positive step towards resolving 
the case and for improving broken French-Rwandan relations, 
although resolving the cases involving the other eight is 
likely to take time. END SUMMARY. 

¶2. (C) Charlotte Montel (AF-advisor in FM Kouchner's 
cabinet) on September 30 provided an update in the Rose 
Kabuye case, calling recent developments an important step in 
the complex legal matter involving nine senior Rwandans, 
which arose when then-terrorism judge Bruguiere in November 
2006 issued his report on the events of 1994 that led to the 
Rwandan genocide. Bruguiere's report contained warrants 
against the nine and also recommended prosecution of Rwanda's 
President Kagame for their alleged involvement in the 
airplane shoot-down deaths of the Rwandan and Burundian 
presidents that sparked the genocide. The legal case in 
France was initiated in response to a complaint by the family 
of the plane's French pilot. Bruguiere's report caused 
Rwanda to sever relations with France, which remain severed. 
Kabuye was arrested in Germany earlier this year pursuant to 
the French warrant and has been questioned several times by 
the investigating judge ("juge d'instruction"), who 
nonetheless granted her liberal travel privileges provided 
she comply with court orders, which she has done. 

¶3. (C) Montel said that on September 25, the investigating 
judge informed Kabuye that he was finished questioning her 
and that she was free to go, subject to the court's recall 
for further testimony. Montel said that Kabuye agreed to 
cooperate with the judge's investigation. Montel explained 
that the warrants Bruguiere had issued were in effect arrest 
warrants that would allow the investigating judge to question 
the nine Rwandans pursuant to the judge's inquiry into the 
1994 events. The warrants were not indictments but more in 
the nature of subpoenas for detailed depositions. One reason 
Rwanda reacted so strongly to the warrants was the fact that 
the French investigating judge, if he had wanted, could have 
gone to Rwanda and asked to interview the nine, rather than 
making them the objects of international arrest warrants. 

4 (C) Montel said that the September 25 ruling was an 
important step because in releasing Kabuye (subject to her 
cooperation and possible further testimony), the judge was 
implicitly not moving towards indicting her. Also, in 
response to the judge's ruling, Kabuye's lawyers offered 
motions that further investigations be carried out in Rwanda, 
which Montel thought likely. Montel cautioned, however, that 
while this development in Kabuye's case was positive and 
could ease France-Rwanda tensions, there were still eight 
others whose cases needed resolution. Montel said that 
Kabuye all along firmly denied that she had deliberately 
allowed herself to be arrested, as a test case," as had been 
reported by French daily Le Monde and other observers. 
Montel conceded that several GOF officials had quietly 
suggested to the Rwandans that one of the nine agree to be 
arrested, which would allow the Rwandans to see what kind of 
case the French had against the nine. She repeated, however, 
that Kabuye consistently maintained that she never intended 
to be arrested in Germany to test France's case against her 
and her compatriots. 

¶5. (C) COMMENT: Montel was notably upbeat in providing her 
analysis of developments in the Kabuye case. We expect, 
however, that the rest of the case, involving the other 
eight, could require considerable time to resolve and that, 
consequently, there will likely be no change in the status of 
relations, unless Rwanda were to alter its position, which 
does not appear likely. Montel did mention that the current 
investigative judge could, on his own motion, annul 
Bruguiere's warrants and carry out the investigation in 

PARIS 00001349 002 OF 002 


another manner, which might perhaps be the best course in 
terms of improving relations. However, given the vaunted 
independence of the French judiciary, we are not confident 
that the judge will choose that course of action. END 
COMMENT. 
RIVKIN