French Court Convicts Author for Downplaying Rwandan Genocide
A French court has convicted French-Cameroonian author Charles Onana for downplaying the 1994 Rwandan genocide, marking a significant legal precedent in France’s fight against genocide denial. Onana, 60, was found guilty of violating France’s laws against genocide denial and incitement to hatred. He was fined €8,400 ($8,900), while Damien Serieyx, his publisher, received a fine of €5,000. The court also ordered both men to pay €11,000 in compensation to the human rights organizations that brought the case.
The case stemmed from Onana’s controversial 2019 book Rwanda, the Truth About Operation Turquoise, in which he dismissed the claims that the Hutu government orchestrated a genocide, calling it “one of the biggest scams” of the 20th century. The court ruled that Onana’s writings “trivialized” and “contested” the genocide in a manner that was “outrageous.”
The 1994 genocide in Rwanda, which took place over 100 days from April to July, resulted in the deaths of an estimated 800,000 people, primarily from the Tutsi minority, at the hands of extremist Hutus. Onana’s book was criticized for distorting the historical facts and minimizing the scale of the atrocities.
Rwanda’s Foreign Minister, Olivier Nduhungirehe, praised the court’s decision as a “landmark ruling” in the fight against genocide denial. The case was brought forward by the NGOs Survie and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), who accused Onana of publicly contesting a crime against humanity. The prosecution lawyer, Richard Gisagara, called the judgment a “victory for justice.”
Onana’s lawyer, Emmanuel Pire, defended the book as a scholarly work based on a decade of research. Pire argued that Onana did not deny the genocide itself but aimed to analyze its broader context. Despite this, both Onana and Serieyx have appealed the verdict.
The ruling sets a significant precedent in Europe, highlighting France’s commitment to prosecuting those who deny or minimize genocides under its laws.
