Gashegu Muramira
5 November 2009
Kigali — The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) will this month render judgement in the case of a Catholic priest, Father Hormisdas Nsengimana, who is facing Genocide charges.
A former head of Christ the King College (Christ Roi) in Nyanza, Southern Province, Nsengimana, is accused of Genocide, Conspiracy to commit Genocide, and Crimes against Humanity, Murder and Extermination.
The judgment, scheduled for November 17, is the fourth of its kind on the ICTR indictment of religious leaders.
The Prosecution in February this year maintained that given the capacity of Nsengimana as a religious leader, he deserves no lesser punishment than life imprisonment for his role in killing innocent people in Nyanza.
Prosecutor Wallace Kapaya told court that the prosecution had presented enough evidence that Nsengimana took part in a joint criminal enterprise with several people.
"He wanted to get rid of Tutsi priests in Nyanza; he sent members of his death squad "The Dragons" to kill them and they indeed killed them," Wallace said at the time
He added; "He himself killed Father Mathieu a man of God, a colleague, a brother with whom he had worked with for several years."
Athanase Seromba, a former vicar in Nyange, in western Rwanda, had his 15 year sentence overturned by the Appeals Court to life in jail early this year.
Emmanuel Rukundo, a former Military Chaplain was sentenced to 25-years imprisonment in February, this year. Wenceslas Munyeshyaka, a former vicar at the Parish of the Holy Family in Kigali, will be tried in France.
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