Arusha, 22 June 2007 (FH) - The trial of Hormisdas Nsengimana, a catholic
\npriest accused of genocide, murder and extermination, began Friday before
\nof the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (TPIR), noted the
\nHirondelle agency.
\nThe priest, 53, was during the 1994 genocide, vice-chancellor of the
\nChrist King College of Nyanza, in southern Rwanda. <\/p>\n
In his preliminary statement, the new chief of prosecutions, Italian
\nSilvana Arbia, indicated that the man of the church had put his knowledge
\nand his gifts at the service of a criminal enterprise aiming at
\nexterminating Tutsis. He described the defendant as a Hutu extremist who,
\neven before the genocide, did not hide his hatred of Tutsis, starting with
\nthose of his school: pupils, priests and other employees. <\/p>\n
According to Mrs. Arbia, the defendant stated, after the start of the
\ngenocide, that the "time is over where churches are to be used as refuge
\nfor Tutsis". <\/p>\n
The representative of the prosecutor supported that the priest was the
\nspiritual leader of a group called "the Dragons" or "the Death squad",
\nwhose members were quite active during the genocide in the area of Nyanza. <\/p>\n
According to this preliminary statement, the abbot not only ordered
\nmassacres but, himself, killed an old priest Tutsi, Mathieu Ngirumpatse,
\nand several Tutsi women. <\/p>\n
"When my rifle kills five people, I feel rested", would have delightfully
\ndeclared the defendant as he killed the old abbot who was an intendant of
\nthe college, according to Arbia. <\/p>\n
Promising to prove the guilt of Nsengimana "beyond any reasonable doubt",
\nthe chief of prosecutions announced 24 witnesses, among whom "members of
\nthe Rwandan clergy", "accomplices" of the defendant, victims, alumni of
\nthe priest and experts. <\/p>\n
"Father Nsengimana rejects all these allegations; he did not hurt anyone;
\nwe hope that this trial will be used to restore his honor ", answered very
\nlaconically hi co-council, Briton David Hooper, standing beside the
\ndefendant recognizable by his priest's collar. The principal council,
\nFrenchman Emmanuel Altit, was not present. <\/p>\n
The prosecution then called its first witness, an investigator of the
\nprosecutor. For the period which goes until next weekend, 5 witnesses in
\nall are planned, for the majority in closed session. <\/p>\n
So far, the ICTR has indicted 4 catholic priests, of which one, Wenceslas
\nMunyeshyaka, is exiled in France.<\/p>\n
ER\/PB\/MM<\/p>\n
\u00a9 Hirondelle News Agency<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Arusha, 22 June 2007 (FH) - The trial of Hormisdas Nsengimana, a catholic priest accused of genocide, murder and extermination, began Friday before of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (TPIR), noted the Hirondelle agency.<\/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-18842","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hirondellenews"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n