French court allows access to Genocide against Tutsi archives
Top court approves researcher’s request to access Mitterrand’s documents, says debate is a matter of ‘public interest’.
A researcher in France has won a protracted legal battle for access to ex-President Francois Mitterrand’s archives on the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi, in which Kigali accuses Paris of having played a role.
The State Council, France’s top administrative court, ruled on Friday the documents would allow researcher and author Francois Graner “to shed light on a debate that is a matter of public interest”
Presidential archives are usually confidential for 60 years after they were signed, but under certain circumstances, such as public interest, can be made public earlier.
“Protection of state secrets must be balanced against the interests of informing the public about historic events,” the State Council said.
“This is a victory for the law, but also for history,” Graner’s lawyer Patrice Spinosi was quoted as saying by AFP news agency.
Mitterrand was president from 1981 to 1995.
Researchers had previously complained that only a fraction of classified French documents have surfaced and say a conclusive account on the role played by Paris has yet to be produced.
Rwandan President Paul Kagame has accused France of being complicit in the bloodshed in which Hutu militias killed over a million people of which the majority are Tutsi and moderate Hutus.
France has always denied the allegations and last year, President Emmanuel Macron announced the creation of a panel of historians and researchers to look into the claims.
Aljazeera with additional Editing changes by TOPAFRICANEWS
