Relations between Paris and Kigali had long been strained by the probe and its associated arrest warrants.
"The investigation was complete and sufficient charges did not exist against anyone for committing the alleged crimes, nor any other infraction," the Court of Cassation found.
Defence lawyers Leon-Lef Forster and Bernard Maingain called the decision"a clear legal victory for the Rwandan soldiers unjustly accused" by a French judge in 2006, claiming that the probe"had a distinct whiff of politics" about it. The Falcon 50 plane was carrying Habyarimana and Burundian president Cyprien Ntaryamira from a summit in Tanzania, where they had been discussing the crisis in the two countries and continuing negotiations with Kagame, then leader of the mostly Tutsi Rwandan Patriotic Front rebel group.
Rwanda's representative at the UN said at the time that the plane was shot down by"enemies of the peace," while the defence ministry said"unidentified elements" were responsible.French investigators long suspected that Kagame's rebels fired on the flight as it landed in the Rwandan capital.Later they chased up the theory that Hutu extremists unsatisfied with the moderate Habyarimana were behind the attack, with no more success.
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