A French-Cameroonian writer, Charles Onana, is due to go on trial in Paris accused of complicity in contesting the 1994 Rwandan genocide, the BBC reports.
About 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed within 100 days.
In a book published five years ago, Mr Onana described the idea that the Hutu government had planned a genocide in Rwanda as “one of the biggest scams” of the last century.
His lawyer, Emmanuel Pire, insists that Mr Onana does not question that genocide took place, or that Tutsis were particularly targeted.
Mr Onana, now 60, and his publishing director at Editions du Toucan, Damien Serieyx, were sued four years ago over the same book.
Monday’s trial is only the second case of denying the Rwandan genocide to come to trial in France.
Under French law, it is an offence to deny or “minimize” the fact of any genocide that is officially recognized by France.
In 2021, French President Emmanuel Macron asked Rwandans to forgive France for its role in the Rwandan genocide.
He said France had not heeded warnings of impending carnage and had for too long “valued silence over examination of the truth,” but said his country had not been an accomplice in the killings.
