Dafroza Mukarumongi Gauthier, a French

has passed away due to illness.

woman of Rwandan origin who fought to bring to justice those who orchestrated the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda and were living freely in Europe—especially in France—has passed away due to illness.

News of the death of this justice activist became known on the morning of Saturday, October 3, 2026.

Dafroza Mukarumongi Gauthier, together with her husband Alain Gauthier, founded the organization Collectif des Parties Civiles pour le Rwanda (CPCR), which collected evidence and testimony used to prosecute suspects of the Genocide against the Tutsi living in France.

Dafroza Gauthier was a survivor of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, having lost more than 80 members of her family.

The efforts of Dafroza Gauthier and her husband focused on gathering evidence of the Genocide against the Tutsi committed in Rwanda.

They visited survivors and witnesses in rural villages, recording names, dates, and concrete evidence, which they submitted as formal legal complaints to French courts.

Their work led to over 30 legal complaints filed in France, resulting in seven judicial convictions of genocide suspects, with some receiving life sentences.

On November 18, 2017, President Paul Kagame commended Dafroza for her contribution to bringing to justice those involved in the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.

Mukarumongi was born in the former Butare Prefecture on August 4, 1954. From her childhood, she witnessed killings targeting the Tutsi.

In 1963, as a child, she, her mother, and her siblings took refuge in a church in Kibeho during a period of killings.

That day, the church served as a sanctuary for her, though in 1994 it broke her heart, as more than 40,000 people seeking refuge there were killed.