Genocide priest on trial at Rwanda court

[seemslikeadream]

afrol News, 20 September

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Father Seromba is accused of being central to the planning and execution of a massacre of more than 2,000 Tutsis in his Nyange church in western Rwanda in April 1994. According to the Prosecutor at the Arusha court, Mr Seromba, Mayor Gregoire Ndahimana, Police Inspector Fulgence Kayishema, Télesphore Ndungutse and Gaspard Kanyikuriga conspired to commit genocide against Tutsis in the commune.

The five leading Hutu extremists of Kivumu in western Rwanda agreed to terrorise the commune's Tutsi population, thus provoking them to seek refuge in Nyange church, according to evidence presented by the Prosecutor. Father Seromba urged refugees arriving here to name other Tutsis still "not in safety", and this list was used by Mayor Ndahimana and the communal police to search for Tutsis still at large. After all of Kivumu's Tutsis had been gathered in Mr Seromba's church, the group of five called for the assistance of the genocidal Interahamwe militia and Hutu civilians "to exterminate them." The refugees at Nyange church were deprived of food and sanitary services and under constant attack from the Interahamwe "to weaken them physically," according to the Prosecutor.

- The third and final step of the plan consisted in assembling a consistent number of killers, including Hutu civilians, to kill all the refugees, according to the indictment. "That was done with the demolition of the Church, using a caterpillar Bulldozer with more than 2000 Tutsi civilians trapped inside the Church." The few survivors on 15 April 1994 were attacked by the Interahamwe, "anxious to finish them off," according to the Prosecutor.

The day after the destruction of the church, the group of five again met, and Father Seromba is quoted as having ordered the Interahamwe to clean the "rubbish". The corpses of victims were placed into common graves. After that, the Catholic priest, the mayor, the police inspector and the drivers of the caterpillar bulldozer "sat drinking beer together," the indictment says.

Father Seromba is the first Catholic priest to go on trial at the tribunal, however following an ex-Anglican bishop. In Belgium, two Roman Catholic nuns have also been accused and convicted for participating in the Rwandan genocide. While a few church leaders of all congregations participated in the genocide, most church leaders did a great effort to protect Tutsi refugees in their churches.
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http://www.afrol.com/articles/14224

[seemslikeadream]

1. Priest boycotts his trial for Rwanda killings

Rory Carrol, Africa correspondent
Tuesday September 21, 2004


Father Seromba was one of dozens of clerics and nuns accused of atrocities who fled to Europe after a Tutsi force took power in Rwanda following the slaughter. With the Vatican's help he moved to Italy, ostensibly to study, and under an assumed name, Father Anastasio Sumba Bura, served as deputy parish priest in a village near Florence.

Tuscan parishioners grew fond of the small, plump Rwandan who sipped milk and honey at the local cafe and always had a smile when performing marriages and communion services in the 16th-century church.

In 2001 the UN Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) sought his extradition but Father Seromba slipped into hiding, infuriating the then chief prosecutor, Carla del Ponte, who accused the Italian government of ignoring its international obligations.

The Italian church admitted facilitating his clandestine "holiday", but under pressure the Vatican and Silvio Berlusconi's government changed tack and in February 2002 the priest flew to Tanzania and surrendered to the tribunal.

more
http://www.guardian.co.uk/rwanda/story/0,14451,1308922,00.html