Hirondelle News Agency (Lausanne)
9 July 2008
Arusha — A defence witness denied before the International Criminal tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) Tuesday allegations that former Rector of Christ the King College in Rwanda, father Hormisdas Nsengimana took part in the 1994 genocide at Nyanza Parish, Butare prefecture, South Rwanda.
The witness code-named "RFCD6" to protect her identity was testifying via video link from Ottawa, Canada in defence of the Catholic Priest charged with genocide and incitement to commit genocide at the UN court.
"I never heard about Fr. Hormisdas involvement in the killings that took place in Nyanza Parish," said the witness in response to the question by a French lawyer, Emmanuel Altit, lead defence counsel for the clergy man.
The accused who started testifying on his own defence on Tuesday morning had to be suspended after lunch to give the opportunity to this distant witness to give her evidence.
The witness also former students of at the Christ the King college recalled that Fr. Nsengimana's sermons on Sundays would "encourage youths to study hard and love one another without discriminations." She concluded her testimony.
Resuming his evidence on Wednesday, Fr. Hormisdas supported the testimony of witness RFCD6 by denying categorically that he killed two ethnic Tutsi priests during genocide namely Fr. Justin Furaha and Fr. Mathiieu Ngirumpatse who was his class mate at Nyakibanda Major Seminary.
The defendant continues with his testimony on Thursday. He was arrested in 2002 and his trial commenced in June 2007.
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