Friday, February 15, 2008

Catholic priest aided genocide, says witness

A prosecution witness has claimed before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda(ICTR) that the former head of College of Christ the King, Fr Hormidas Nsengimana, took part in a meeting to plan the massacre of ethnic Tutsis in 1994.


On trial since June 2007, Fr Nsengimana is accused of genocide and crimes against humanity committed in Nyanza, southern Rwanda. He has pleaded not guilty.

The protected witness alleged that the meeting was held at the college premises and had spotted the accused standing next to a gendarme.

The meeting was attended by about 30 people and Tutsis were mentioned as enemies to be eliminated "at a convenient time".

"Two days after the meeting at the college, when we awoke in the morning, we noted that houses [belonging to Tutsis] were set on fire in Nyanza", the witness added.

Some of the participants at the meeting were employees of the College of Christ the King, he alleged before the UN court.

An unidentified immigrant child was found dead under a truck from exposure to toxic fumes. Greece under fire for not following law in upholding the dead child's rights as an unaccompanied minor.

The prosecutor alleges that Hormisdas led the "death squad" made up of employees of the college.

Nsengimana is one of the four Catholic priests indicted by the ICTR.

Athanase Seromba, a former vicar in Nyange, in western Rwanda, was sentenced to 15 years jail last year and has appealed against the decision.

Emmanuel Rukundo, a former military chaplain is currently on trial before the ICTR.

Wenceslas Munyeshyaka, a former vicar at the parish of the Holy Family in Kigali, will be tried in France.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Disclaimer

No responsibility or liability shall attach itself to either myself or to the blogspot ‘Clerical Whispers’ for any or all of the articles placed here.

The placing of an article hereupon does not necessarily imply that I agree or accept the contents of the article as being necessarily factual in theology, dogma or otherwise.

Sotto Voce