24.07.07 - ICTR/RUKUNDO - TRIAL OF A PRIEST ADJOURNED UNTIL SEPTEMBER

On trial since 15 November 2006, Rukundo, 48, has been presenting his defense since 9 July.
 
The ICTR Prosecutor accuses him of participating in the massacres of Tutsis in Kabgayi, in central Rwanda. He has pleaded not guilty.
 
In 1994, Rukundo was a military chaplain. The Prosecutor alleges that he was always escorted by soldiers and Interahamwe militiamen affiliated to the former presidential party, the Mouvement Républicain National pour la Démocratie et le Développement (MRND),while he was hunting Tutsi refugees to kill.
 
During his visits, he brought a list that he used to call on the Tutsi and control their whereabouts. Afterwards he passed the list to the soldiers and Interahamwe who took the persons included in the list to kill them or cause them serious bodily or mental harm, according to the indictment.
 
Defence witnesses have stated that Rukundo never went on the sites of the massacres. The priest is being defended by Aicha Condé (France) and Alisson Turner (Canada).
 
The president of the chamber, Judge Joseph Asoka de Silva (Sri Lanka), stated that the Rukundo case will conclude on 6 October.
 
Besides Rukundo, the tribunal has already indicted three other priests. Only one of them, Athanase Seromba, former vicar at the parish of Nyange (western Rwanda), has been tried. Convicted to fifteen years in prison on 13 December 2006, his case is in appeal.
 
As in Rukundo's case, Father Hormisdas Nsengimana, vice-chancellor of the Christ-Roi College of Nyanza (southern Rwanda) in 1994, is also currently on trial.
 
Father Wenceslas Munyeshyaka, former priest of the Saint-Family parish in Kigali has been detained since last Friday in France. The Prosecutor wants him to be tried over there but the ICTR has not made its decision yet.
 
AT/MM
© Hirondelle News Agency