Together, they crafted a false narrative, accusing the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) of being responsible for shooting down the plane of President Juvénal Habyarimana.
The plane carrying President Juvénal Habyarimana was shot down on the night of April 6, 1994, and was followed by the execution of the Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda.
This genocide was carried out openly across the country, with the involvement of soldiers, gendarmes, the Interahamwe militia, and others.
Dr. Bizimana highlighted on X that Reyntjens was 'the Belgian who drafted the discriminatory 1978 Constitution for the Habyarimana regime, providing it with legal basis for the oppression and extermination of the Tutsi.'
According to Dr. Bizimana, Reyntjens' involvement was not just an academic error; it was the starting point of his long campaign to sanitize the genocidal regime and attack those who ended it.
He emphasized, 'The Belgian Filip Reyntjens has been committed since 1994 to defending his Rwandan friends involved in the genocide against the Tutsi and using them to fabricate blatant lies against the FPR, accusing the latter of invented crimes of the same magnitude as the genocide against the Tutsi.'
These tactics, according to Bizimana, were aimed at glorifying the leaders of Habyarimana's regime by fabricating two genocides, suppressing the truth, and portraying the RPF as a government of genocidaires.
Dr. Bizimana provided an example of the collaboration between Reyntjens and Ngeze Hassan, the former Editor-in-Chief of Kangura newspaper.
In a letter addressed to Ngeze on May 9, 1997, Reyntjens suggested that it would be highly beneficial to highlight the role of the RPF in the attack that downed President Habyarimana's plane.
He proposed that if there were any RTLM workers in Nairobi, they could be contacted to help investigate whether it would be possible to uncover any information related to his inquiry.
Reyntjens also expressed his willingness to meet with Ngeze or any other journalists in the near future. Minister Bizimana pointed out that Reyntjens was encouraging Ngeze to accuse the RPF of crimes, despite being fully aware of the genocidal ideology that had influenced his actions.
Who shot down Habyarimana's plane?
An investigation into the shooting down of President Juvénal Habyarimana's plane was initiated by France in 1998 after the families of those onboard, as well as the plane's crew and staff, requested it.
In 2012, Rwanda granted French judges Marc Trévidic and Nathalie Poux permission to enter the country. They announced that the missiles that shot down Habyarimana's plane came from the Kanombe Military Base, with no connection to the RPA forces reportedly stationed in Masaka.
There are documents from France's external intelligence agency, DGSE, showing that France had information on who shot down Habyarimana's plane starting from April 6, 1994.
An investigation conducted by Radio France and Mediapart uncovered a DGSE document written to President François Mitterrand, detailing the agency's information about the attack.
The document, dated September 22, 1994, was released by the Ministry of Armed Forces in 2015. It stated that 'two extremists,' Colonel Théoneste Bagosora and Laurent Serubuga, were the ones who issued the orders to shoot down Habyarimana's plane.
On July 12, 1994, DGSE revealed that the plane was shot down by Hutu extremists seeking to eliminate President Habyarimana, who had agreed to negotiations with the RPF.
The French were the first to arrive at the crash site and were said to have taken the black box from the plane, which contained critical information about the incident.
Ngeze: An extremist who hated Tutsis
Ngeze Hassan was sentenced to 35 years in prison by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) in Arusha after being convicted of crimes related to the genocide against the Tutsi and crimes against humanity. Another document written by Reyntjens revealed that Ngeze Hassan played an active role in the 1992 massacres of Tutsis in Bugesera.
The document states: 'In March 1992, Reyntjens writes, Interahamwe and soldiers from the Presidential Guard and the Mayuya camp (a total of about 75 soldiers) were sent to Bugesera. The soldiers were in civilian clothes and armed with knives and pistols.
'Individuals, particularly officers from the Ministry of Justice and judicial police inspectors/officers, who might have hindered the operation had been reassigned beforehand. The troublemakers were transported by vehicles from the Public Works Department, and the fuel needed for the operation was provided by Mr. Rwabukumba and Mr. Nzirorera, and allegedly transported by Hassan Ngeze and stored at the home of mayor, Rwambuka.
'Initially arriving in Gashora, the Interahamwe and soldiers, assisted by local interahamwe, blended in with the population. They then attacked specific pre-determined targets: Tutsi families or those belonging to the opposition. From there, the violence spread.'
This document highlights how some institutions involved in the genocide provided vehicles for the killers, supplied fuel, and sheltered the perpetrators in high-end hotels.
The document further notes, 'The criminals were given very comfortable accommodations. Ngeze Hassan, the Chief editor of Kangura, who was involved in the events in Bugesera, came to visit me at the hotel.'
Minister Bizimana emphasized, 'Ngeze Hassan, whom Filip Reyntjens sought to work with after the halt of the genocide, urging him to collaborate in falsely accusing the RPF, is a hardened criminal because his role in the preparation and execution of the genocide was evident from 1990 onwards.'
Ngeze Hassan's background
Ngeze Hassan was born on December 25, 1957, in Rubavu District, Gisenyi Sector. He is known for inciting ethnic division through the Kangura newspaper, which he founded in 1990. Hassan is also known for his work at ONATRACOM, the national public transport authority.
Hassan is infamous for publishing the "10 Commandments of the Hutu" in December 1990, which fueled hatred among Hutus against Tutsis.
Kangura, the magazine Ngeze managed, was heavily supported by the MRND party, which was led by President Habyarimana.
In 1993, Ngeze gained influence on RTLM, a radio station that shared the same genocidal ideology as Kangura. During the genocide, Ngeze regularly provided RTLM with the names of Tutsis who were to be killed, particularly focusing on individuals from Gisenyi Province. He publicly announced these names on RTLM.
In June 1994, Ngeze fled to Mombasa, Kenya. In 2003, he was arrested by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and tried in 2007. He was initially sentenced to life in prison, but after an appeal, Judge Theodor Meron reduced his sentence to 35 years.
IGIHE
