A French court has found French-Cameroonian author Charles Onana guilty of downplaying the 1994 Rwandan genocide in a case hailed as a landmark decision for justice and accountability. The Paris court fined Onana, 60, €8,400 ($8,900; 5.5 million FCFA) for violating French laws against genocide denial and incitement to hatred through his writings. Damien Serieyx, the publishing director of Éditions du Toucan, faced a €5,000 fine, and both he and his organisation must pay €11,000 in compensation to the human rights organisations that initiated the case.
Book Described as “Outrageous” Contestation of Genocide
The charges stemmed from Onana’s 2019 book, Rwanda, the Truth About Operation Turquoise, in which he described the notion that the Hutu-led government had orchestrated the genocide as “one of the biggest scams” of the 20th century. The court determined that the book trivialised and outrageously contested the genocide, during which approximately 800,000 people—mostly Tutsi and moderate Hutu—were killed in just 100 days.
Survie and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) brought the case forward, citing Onana and Serieyx for “publicly contesting a crime against humanity.” Critics of the book argue that it distorts historical facts and minimises the scale and intent of the atrocities.
Justice for Victims and Survivors
Richard Gisagara, a lawyer representing the prosecution, celebrated the verdict as “a victory for justice that protects genocide victims and survivors.” The ruling marks the first punishment in Europe for denying the Rwandan genocide, an act that French law explicitly criminalises.
Rwanda’s Foreign Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe welcomed the decision, describing it on social media platform X as a “landmark decision.”
Defense Stands Firm
Onana’s lawyer, Emmanuel Pire, defended the book as a scholarly work. “It is the work of a political scientist based on 10 years of research to understand the mechanisms of the genocide before, during, and after,” Pire told AFP in October. He insisted that Onana did not deny the genocide or the targeting of Tutsis.
Despite this defence, the court ruled decisively against Onana, emphasising that France would “no longer be a haven for denialists.”
Genocide Denial and French Law
Under French law, denying or minimising any genocide officially recognised by the state is a criminal offense. This includes the Holocaust and the Rwandan genocide, which remains one of the most brutal and well-documented atrocities of the late 20th century.
The genocide unfolded between April and July 1994, when ethnic Hutu extremists targeted Tutsis and political opponents. Survivors and historians have long fought against revisionist narratives that seek to undermine the gravity of the events.
Appeals Filed
Both Onana and Serieyx have, however, appealed the verdict. This therefore extends the legal dispute over a controversial matter that challenges memory, accountability, and justice.
