French Court Convicts Author Charles Onana for Downplaying Rwandan Genocide

A French court has found French-Cameroonian author Charles Onana guilty of downplaying the 1994 Rwandan genocide in his controversial 2019 book, Rwanda, the Truth About Operation Turquoise. Onana was fined €8,400, and his publisher, Damien Serieyx of Éditions du Toucan, was ordered to pay €5,000. They were also required to provide €11,000 in compensation to human rights organizations that filed the lawsuit, including Survie and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH). The court ruled that Onana’s writings violated France’s laws prohibiting genocide denial and incitement to hatred.

Onana’s book controversially described claims that the Hutu government planned the genocide as “one of the biggest scams” of the century, sparking criticism for distorting historical facts. The court concluded that the book “trivialised” and “contested” the genocide in an “outrageous manner,” which Rwanda’s Foreign Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe hailed as a “landmark decision.” The genocide saw about 800,000 people, primarily Tutsi minorities, massacred by ethnic Hutu extremists in just 100 days.

Prosecutors called the decision a historic victory in Europe against genocide denial, with lawyer Richard Gisagara emphasizing the importance of justice for victims and survivors. Onana’s lawyer argued that the book was a decade-long academic investigation into the genocide’s mechanisms and claimed it did not deny the genocide occurred. Both Onana and Serieyx have filed an appeal against the verdict.

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