Arusha, 7 February 2008 (FH) - A prosecution witness claimed Thursday before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) that the former head of College of Christ the King, Hormidas Nsengimana, took part in a meeting to prepare for the massacres of ethnic Tutsis in 1994.
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\nOn trial since June 2007, Nsengimana is accused of genocide and crimes against humanity committed in Nyanza, southern Rwanda. He has pleaded not guilty.<\/p>\n
The protected witness alleged that the meeting was held at the college premises and had spotted the accused standing next to a gendarme.<\/p>\n
The meeting was attended by about 30 people and Tutsis were mentioned as enemies to be eliminated "at a convenient time".<\/p>\n
"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.<\/p>\n
Some of the participants at the meeting were employees of the College of Christ the King, he alleged before the UN court.<\/p>\n
The prosecutor alleges that Hormisdas led "death squad" made up of employees of the college.<\/p>\n
Nsengimana is one of the four catholic priests indicted by the ICTR.<\/p>\n
Athanase Seromba, a former vicar in Nyange, in western Rwanda, was sentenced to 15 years jail last year and has appealed against the decision.<\/p>\n
Emmanuel Rukundo, a former military chaplain is currently on trial before the ICTR.<\/p>\n
Wenceslas Munyeshyaka, a former vicar at the parish of the Holy Family in Kigali, will be tried in France.<\/p>\n
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\n© Hirondelle News Agency <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Arusha, 7 February 2008 (FH) - A prosecution witness claimed Thursday before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) that the former head of College of Christ the King, Hormidas Nsengimana, took part in a meeting to prepare for the massacres of ethnic Tutsis in 1994.<\/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-19731","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hirondellenews"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n