\nArusha, March 3rd, 2004(FH)-The thirteenth prosecution witness in the trial of four former Rwandan ministers on Monday told the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda that a Tutsi woman was taken away from a church where she had sought refuge, by a soldier on orders of Justin Mugenzi, one of the accused in the trial. The witness identified as LEL to protect her identity told the trial chamber she learned from other Tutsi who had sought refuge in the church with her atKibungo prefecture in April 1994 that Mugenzi, former minister of Commerce had sent a soldier to collect the woman.\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n\u201dThey said it was Mugenzi who had sent the soldier to come and take that woman\u201d. She only identified the woman, whom she never saw again after being picked up, as Vestine. LEL added that Vestine left along with another girl. LEL also stated that before the soldier who had come to pick the woman left, he told the refugees \u201call of you will be exterminated\u201d. After the soldier left, an attack took place and many refugees were killed by the Interahamwe and soldiers. The witness, however, could not remember the date this event occurred. LEL also testified that some other women refugees were taken away and raped by the Interahamwe. Among the victims was a woman she identified as Uwera. She was taken away by the Interahamwe while outside the church. \u201cThey raped her and kept her for some time. Then after a few days we heard that they had killed her,\u201d the witness stated. LEL who was aged 16 in 1994, recalled that she and other family members fled to the church in April but could not recall the date when she arrived there. Mugenzi is jointly being tried with former Minister of Health Casimir Bizimungu, the former minister of Foreign Affairs J\u00e9r\u00f4me Bicamumpaka, and Prosper Mugiraneza, former minister of Public Service. Government II Trial is before Trial Chamber Two where Judge Asoka de Zoyza Gunawardana (Sri Lanka) is presiding assisted by judges Lee Muthoga (Kenya) and Khalida Rashid Khan (Pakistan)PJ\/CE\/FH (GVII'0303e)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Arusha, March 3rd, 2004(FH)-The thirteenth prosecution witness in the trial of four former Rwandan ministers on Monday told the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda that a Tutsi woman was taken away from a church where she had sought refuge, by a soldier on orders of Justin Mugenzi, one of the accused in the trial. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":64,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[555],"tags":[],"ji_location":[],"class_list":["post-18236","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hirondellenews"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n