France dismisses genocide case against priest

France has dismissed a 20-year-old case against Fr Wenceslas Munyeshyaka, a Rwandan priest who has been accused of handing over Tutsi refugees to Hutu militias in Kigali during the 1994 genocide there, writes Tom Heneghan.

Munyeshyaka, who was a pastor in Kigali and serves as a curate in a parish in eastern France, denies the allegations that France has been investigating since 1995. The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) indicted him in 2005 but later referred the case to the French courts.
French magistrates said the testimony presented was too weak to stand up to the charges of genocide and torture, provoking protests from rights activists in France and Rwanda.