French troops set to avoid trial over Rwanda massacre

French prosecutors have recommended that judges drop a case accusing troops of complicity over their inaction.

Members of the French armed forces deployed in Rwanda during the 1994 genocide were set on Monday to avoid any trial after prosecutors recommended that judges drop a case accusing them of complicity in crimes against humanity over their inaction in a massacre. Survivors of the June 1994 slaughter in the hills of Bisesero in western Rwanda had accused French troops of deliberately abandoning them to Hutu extremists, who murdered hundreds of people in the area within days. The call to drop the 15-year-old case followed a major report in March examining allegations about France’s role in the genocide, which found that Paris had been “blind” to preparations but not complicit in the killings.