France's Paris Court of Appeal has ruled that a genocide investigation against Rwanda's former first lady, Agathe Habyarimana, must resume, overturning a lower court's decision to dismiss the case. The appeals court found grounds to reinstate charges of "complicity in genocide" against the 83-year-old, who has lived in France for more than three decades.

Habyarimana is the widow of Juvénal Habyarimana, Rwanda's Hutu president whose assassination in April 1994 — when his plane was shot down over Kigali — triggered one of the worst genocides of the 20th century. Over approximately 100 days, between 800,000 and one million Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed, predominantly by Hutu militias and armed groups. Agathe Habyarimana was evacuated from Rwanda by French paratroopers in the early days of the violence and has remained in France ever since.

She has been under formal investigation since 2007–2008, with plaintiffs alleging she was the driving force behind the "Akazu" — the secretive inner circle of Hutu hardliners that surrounded the presidency and is widely believed to have been central to organising the massacres. Accusers claim she helped draw up lists of individuals to be killed. A lower court dismissed the charges last year, citing insufficient evidence, but the Paris Court of Appeal has now annulled that decision, ordering the investigation to continue.

Habyarimana has consistently denied any involvement, describing herself as a politically uninvolved mother of eight children. Her lawyer called the appeals court's ruling "incomprehensible," arguing there is no serious evidence to substantiate the allegations against her.

The case carries significant weight beyond its legal dimensions. France's relationship with Rwanda surrounding the 1994 genocide has long been fraught, with Kigali for many years accusing Paris of having supported the Hutu-led government before and during the killings — allegations France has partially acknowledged. The resumption of proceedings against Habyarimana, one of the most prominent Rwandan figures to have found refuge in France, underscores both the enduring legal reckoning over the genocide and the slow, contested effort to bring alleged perpetrators to justice nearly 31 years on.