Priest in UN court over Rwanda genocide

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The Times
by Jonathan Clayton

A cleric is on trial for the killing of Tutsis who sought refuge in a Catholic church



A PRIEST accused of bulldozing more than 2,000 Tutsi villagers to death as they sought sanctuary in his church during Rwanda’s 1994 genocide went on trial before a United Nations court yesterday, charged with crimes against humanity. Father Athanase Seromba, 41, is the first Roman Catholic priest to face charges at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, in Arusha, Tanzania.

The tribunal has already heard several cases against Protestant counterparts, accused of some of the gravest atrocities of the time.

A court in Belgium has found two Catholic nuns guilty of genocide, but the Vatican has generally denied that its clergymen were complicit in the slaughter of some 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus. The Vatican has continued to support Father Seromba, saying that there is no evidence to support the accusations made against him.

Father Seromba, who has pleaded not guilty, is accused of plotting with Hutu extremists to trick Tutsis into fleeing their homes in Kivumu commune and taking refuge in his church in Nyange parish in western Rwanda, where he said they would be safe from the violence.
More:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-1272224,00.html

[wickywom]

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