Arusha, 11 May 2007 (FH) - A gacaca court in the east of Rwanda acquitted and released, on 24 April, a famous Rwandan singer, Charles Nkurunziza, as well as a former mayor, Damien Ntambara, reported Friday the Rwandan League for the Promotion and the Defense of Human Right (LIPRODHOR) on his web site. Semi-traditional jurisdictions inspired by former village assemblies where the elders settled disagreements, the gacacas (pronounced gatchatcha) have been assigned to judge the majority of the persons allegedly responsible for the 1994 genocide which killed, according to the UN, approximately 800 000 persons, primarily Tutsis. Nkurunziza, 57, had been thrown in prison in 1995, he was later released and re-incarcerated in 1997 with the reason, amongst others, that he held a fire arm during the genocide. During his trial on, on April 24, in front of a gacaca court of the Kibungo sector, in the eastern province, he proved, evidence in hand, that it was actually a hunting rifle, reports the LIPRODHOR. Well known in Rwanda, the repertoire of Nkurunziza, very popular, is notably composed of songs about love and fraternity. On the same day, the same court acquitted the former mayor of Kigarama, Damien Ntambara, 47 years old. The former administrator had been imprisoned in 1996 after having voluntarily resigned his functions. He was, notably, accused of being involved in the assassinations of Tutsis in 1994. Many testimonies supported, in front of the gacaca judges, that he had, on the contrary, suffered several attacks during the genocide, adds the LIPRODHOR. ER/PB/MM
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