France: Journalist Maria Malagardis On Trial; CFWIJ Demands The Court Dismisses All Legal Proceedings
Location: France, Paris
Date: January 19, 2023
Senior reporter for Libération, Maria Malagardis, is on trial over alleged public insult against Aloys Ntiwiragabo, the former head of military intelligence in Rwanda. The Coalition For Women In Journalism demands the court dismisses all legal proceedings initiated against Maria Malagardis.
On January 19, the Paris Criminal Court initiated trial proceedings against independent French journalist Maria Malagardis. Malagardis frequently contributes to Libération and Rue89. The case dates back to 2020 when Mediapart, an independent French investigative online newspaper, published an investigation titled "Aloys Ntiwiragabo, alleged pillar of the Tutsi genocide, is hiding in France".
Aloys Ntiwiragabo was a high-ranking Rwandan military officer at the time of the 1994 massacres. He had been missing for more than 20 years. The judges of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) had long been seeking Ntiwiragabo out. Ntiwiragabo, a Hutu extremist, is the subject of an Interpol red notice for "crime of genocide".
Ntiwiragabo is believed to have been one of those involved in the execution of Tutsi militiamen and others who were in opposition to the government between 1990 and July 1994. Although he did not have documents to allow him to stay in France where he arrived in 2011, France refused to send him to Rwanda. In 2020 he applied for asylum again.
The Mediapart investigation, authored by reporter Théo Englebert, established the presence of Ntiwiragabo in the Orléans area. In a retweet of Englebert's publication, Maria Malagardis wrote: "An African Nazi in France? Will someone react?".
Following the publication, a preliminary investigation into suspected crimes against humanity was opened in France. In return, Ntiwiragabo filed two separate criminal complaints against Englebert and Malagardis. The defense raised against Malagardis is over the criterion “African Nazi” in her tweet. Aloys Ntiwiragabo, currently on the run in France, accuses Malagardis of ' public insult'. Charles-Emmanuel Soussen, the lawyer of Maria Malagardis, said that it is not the first time that the suspected involvement in the genocide against the Tutsis has been compared to the Nazis.
Maria Malagardis has been writing about the Rwandan genocide for nearly thirty years and in 2012 published the book "Sur la piste des tueurs rwandais" (On the trail of Rwandan killers). The journalist is considered a specialist on African news. Malagardis has covered Cameroon and Rwanda for the daily La Croix. The journalist also spent four years working as a South African correspondent for Libération and BBC. Malagardis has also authored Rwanda, le jour d’après (“Rwanda the Day After” - Somogy 1995), a book on the survivors of the Rwanda genocide.
Malagardis may be the only journalist left in France who followed the Genocide against the Tutsis. Ntiwiragabo has never been prosecuted, so he is still considered innocent, but the position he was in in 1994 is what makes him suspicious.
It is expected that the decision on Ntiwiragabo's charges against Malagardis will be made on March 15, 2023.
The Coalition For Women In Journalism is revolted by the worrying symptoms of the decline in freedom of the press. It is deeply concerning that the worst offenders allow themselves to take journalists to court. We demand the court absolves Maria Malagardis. The investigation must come to an immediate end.
The Coalition For Women In Journalism is a global organization of support for women journalists. The CFWIJ pioneered mentorship for mid-career women journalists across several countries around the world and is the first organization to focus on the status of free press for women journalists. We thoroughly document cases of any form of abuse against women in any part of the globe. Our system of individuals and organizations brings together the experience and mentorship necessary to help female career journalists navigate the industry. Our goal is to help develop a strong mechanism where women journalists can work safely and thrive.
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