29.01.09 - RWANDA/FRANCE - PRESIDENT KAGAME'S PROTOCOL CHIEF APPEARS BEFORE FRENCH COURT

Arusha, 29 January 2009 (FH) - Mrs Rose Kabuye, Protocol Chief of Rwandan President Paul Kagame, appeared Wednesday in Paris before French Judge Marc Trevidic for a hearing which related only to the "personal journey" of this former rebel accused of having played a part in the attack of 6 April 1994 against the plane of President Juvenal Habyarimana.

According to Forster, "the alleged facts will not be dealt with during this hearing but rather at a later date", according to AFP.

Mrs. Kabuye, a retired lieutenant colonel, was arrested on 9 November in Germany pursuant to an international arrest warrant issued in 2006 by French antiterrorist Judge Jean-Louis Bruguière.

Indicted and placed under judicial supervision, she had been authorized to return to her country for the holidays with the obligation of returning to France by 10 January at the latest.

Indicted for complicity to murder and criminal conspiracy, all in relation to a terrorist enterprise, she has claimed her innocence.

Eight other Rwandans with ties to President Kagame, all suspected of having played a part in the assassination of Juvenal Habyarimana, are also targeted by the warrants of Judge Bruguiere.

French justice has jurisdiction over this case because the pilots, who were among the victims, were French.

ER/MM/SC

© Hirondelle News Agency

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