Former Rwanda intel chief goes on trial in France, 20 years after genocide his country
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}FILE - In this Aug. 25, 1994 file photo a young Tutsi refugee gazes upon the Tutsi camp of Nyarushishi, Rwanda, 6 miles southeast of Cyangugu. Two decades after the Rwandan genocide, France is finally opening what critics called its blind eye to justice over the killings. On Tuesday Feb. 4, 2014, a wheelchair-bound Rwandan former intelligence chief appears in Paris court for an expected seven-week trial to face charges of complicity in genocide and complicity in crimes against humanity. (AP Photo/Jean-March Bouju, File) (The Associated Press)
The first trial in France over Rwanda's genocide has opened in a Paris court.
Pascal Simbikangwa, a 54-year-old former intelligence chief, faces charges of complicity in genocide and complicity in war crimes. He could face a life sentence if convicted after the seven-week trial.
The case has highlighted criticism of France's own reaction to the genocide a generation ago, and its slow exercise of justice after the slaughter of at least 500,000 people over 100 days.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}France had close ties to the government of Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana, an ethnic Hutu who was killed when his plane was shot down in 1994. His death set off a torrent of reprisal slayings of ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus, in what has been called the 20th century's fastest genocide.