Charlotte Kingsman
26 July 2008
Arusha — On 11 July 2008, the Defense closed its case against Hormisdas Nsengimana, a priest who was formerly Rector of Christ-Roi College in Nyanza, Nyabisindu commune in Butare prefecture.
Nsengimana was born on August 6th, 1954 in Gikongoro province in south of Rwanda. He joined the College Christ-Roi as priest and teacher in 1989 after completing school in Rwanda and Italy. He later became the principal of the College and remained there until he fled Rwanda in May 1994. He was arrested on March 21st, 2002 in Yaoundé, Cameroon at the request of the Tribunal to face three counts of genocide and crimes against humanity for murder and extermination. Prosecution alleges that he played a major role in the Nyanza massacres of Tutsis in the Butare region in 1994..
According to the Prosecution, Father Hormisdas was a well known supporter and prominent member of the CDR and it was common for the people in Nyanza to refer to him as the "CDR priest". In addition, he is said to be one of the leaders of a group popularly known as Les Escadrons de la Mort (Death Squad). His position of power is believed to have enabled him to instigate, order and abet criminal acts committed by two of his employees at the College, Simon Kalinda and Pheneas Nyarugama.
He is said to hate the Tutsi and Tutsi priests living in the Christ-Roi College. Around April 25th 1994, escorted by soldiers, Prosecution alleges that he murdered Father Mathieu Ngirumpatse, who was the bursar at the Christ Roi College at that time. It is also held that, followed by some staff, he went to the Catholic Church women's hostel situated between the College and Nyanza parish where he ordered the attackers to separate the Hutu from the Tutsi women and killed six Tutsi women.
Witnesses assert that Father Nsengimana's parish was used to feed and maintain the Interhamwe in charge of three roadblocks in the vicinity of College Christ-Roi and that he had instructed them to check properly the identity papers of individuals crossing the roadblock in order to identify Tutsi and Hutu moderates. He is reported to have stated in 1994 : "The time is over where the churches and the parishes were sites of refuge during the crisis, that time is over"
Nsengimana, represented by Maitre Emmanuel Altit from France and David Hooper from England, pleads not guilty to all the charges.
Since it commenced on June 2nd 2008 the Chamber heard twenty-two Defence witnesses, including Father Nsengimana. The hearing was conducted over twenty trial days of which several were half days. It was after hearing an expert witness that the Defence case was closed. The expert witness, Mr. Neupane, had been a police investigator for twenty-one years in Nepal before working for the ICTR. He provided maps and photographs of the areas where the crimes were committed.
The Prosecution heard nineteen witnesses before closing its case on February 7th 2008. The Prosecution team is led by Senior Trial Attorney Wallace Kapaya and includes Charity Kagwi-Ndungu, Sylver Ntukamazina, Brian Wallace, Iskander Ismail and Jane Mukangira.
The Chamber, composed of Judges Erik Møse, presiding, Sergei Alekseevich Egorov and Florence Rita Arrey, is conducting a visit to the alleged crime sites in Rwanda from 14 to 16 July 2008. Following the filing of closing briefs, the parties will present their oral arguments on 20 and 21 November 2008.
Nsengimana is the fifth cleric detained by the Tribunal, after Anglican Bishop Samuel Musabyimana, Adventist Pastor Elizaphan Ntakirutimana and Catholic Priests Emmanuel Rukundo and Athanase Seromba.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 Arusha Times. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
