In a detailed statement posted on his X account, Dr. Bizimana emphasised that the genocide was a carefully orchestrated tragedy planned by the regime of former Rwandan President, the late General Juvénal Habyarimana. 

He noted that the historical truth remains “inconvenient” for perpetrators and their sympathisers, including individuals, such as the son of former  Gen. Habyarimana, whom he described as the planner of the genocide. 

The Minister highlighted that the United Nations designated April 7 as the International Day of Reflection on the Genocide to “remove any doubt and explicitly name the crime and its victims.” 

According to Dr. Bizimana, the international nature of the genocide and the obligation to combat its denial are now enshrined in global law, specifically through UN Security Council Resolution 2150.

Dr. Bizimana’s statement revisited the earliest legal investigations into the killings. He cited the 1994 findings of René Degni Segui, the Special Rapporteur of the UN Commission on Human Rights, who concluded that the massacres were “well orchestrated.”

“The classification of genocide must already be applied to the Tutsi,” Segui wrote in his June 1994 report, as quoted by the Minister. “The massacres are all the more horrific and terrifying because they are presented as planned, systematic, and atrocious.”

Further evidence was gathered by a commission of three international experts established under Resolution 935.

Following an investigation in late 1994, the commission reported “overwhelming evidence that acts of genocide were committed against the Tutsi group by Hutu elements acting in a concerted, planned, systematic, and methodical manner.”

The legal foundation for the truth of the genocide was further solidified by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). Over its two decades of operation, the tribunal convicted 65 perpetrators.

One of the most significant legal cases mentioned by Dr. Bizimana was the 1998 guilty plea of Jean Kambanda, the Prime Minister of the genocidal government. Kambanda admitted to conspiracy and direct incitement to commit genocide.

According to Dr. Bizimana, Kambanda’s plea confirmed he led a government “tasked with carrying out a genocide against the Tutsi that had been planned in advance by the previous regime of Gen. Habyarimana.”

The Minister also referenced the landmark verdict against Jean-Paul Akayesu, the former mayor of Taba Commune (currently located in Muhanga District, Southern Province). The tribunal’s 1998 ruling clarified that the victims were targeted specifically because of their membership in the Tutsi ethnic group, and not because they were RPF fighters. 

By 2006, the ICTR Appeals Chamber definitively ruled that it was “a matter of public record that between April 6 and July 17, 1994, a genocide was committed in Rwanda against the Tutsi ethnic group.”

Dr. Bizimana used the platform to address those who still attempt to distort the history of the genocide. He specifically named several accounts on X like Jean-Luc Habyarimana, Habyarimana Léon, and Gustave Mbonyumutwa, accusing them of “falsifying the unfalsifiable” and “defending the indefensible.”

The Minister pointed to the human cost of the tragedy, recalling that more than one million people were killed during the 100-day period. He stressed that the UN urges all member states to develop educational programs to prevent future genocides.

According to Dr. Jean Damascene Bizimana, the upcoming commemoration serves as a critical global reminder.

“The commemoration of this genocide, unique in the world, the first in Africa, which the world will soon commemorate in just a few days, must truly serve as a reminder so that prevention finally becomes the ultimate goal,” Dr. Bizimana concluded.

 He also stated that the world must remain vigilant against the leaders of groups like the FDLR and other fugitives who still evade justice.