|
|
 |
|
CNS Story:
|
RWANDA-DEATHS Dec-14-2006 (400 words) With photos. xxxi
Court convicts priest for ordering deaths of Rwandans during genocide
By Evan Weinberger
Catholic News Service
YAOUNDE, Cameroon (CNS) -- A United Nations war crimes court sentenced a priest to 15 years in prison for ordering militias to set fire to his church and bulldoze it, killing the 2,000 Tutsis who had sought safety inside during the 1994 Rwandan genocide.
The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in Arusha, Tanzania, found Father Athanase Seromba guilty of genocide and extermination as a crime against humanity Dec. 13.
Father Seromba ordered the church destroyed after Tutsis seeking refuge in his church in Nyange Parish in Kibuye, in western Rwanda, repelled an assault by gendarmes and the Interahamwe, the Hutu militia that carried out many of the killings during the genocide.
Father Seromba showed the structural weak points in the church to the bulldozer driver, said a statement released by the tribunal.
The tribunal took into account Father Seromba's "authority as a respected Catholic priest, the trust he had from several Tutsi refugees who had taken shelter in his parish to elude massacres, and his failure to live up to the trust of the refugees who thought their lives would be safe there" in making its decision, the statement said.
Father Seromba was the first Catholic priest tried before the tribunal, although two more are still awaiting trial in Arusha.
After fleeing Rwanda at the end of the genocide, Father Seromba was serving in two parishes near Florence, Italy, under an assumed name when the tribunal indicted him. He surrendered in 2002 and his trial started in September 2004.
He was acquitted on one count of conspiracy to commit genocide. There was no word on whether Father Seromba would appeal the decision.
During the genocide Catholic churches were the scene of several of the bloodiest massacres, including the killing of hundreds in Holy Family Church in Kigali, the Rwandan capital. Many church officials have been brought in for questioning in front of Gacaca Tribunals, traditional Rwandan courts established to try genocide cases.
Nearly 60 percent of Rwandans are Catholic. The church in Rwanda maintains that institutionally it bears no responsibility for the individual actions of a few of its leaders and points out that individuals of all faiths are charged with crimes committed during the genocide.
Many Catholic clergy and lay officials, both Hutu and Tutsi, were killed during the genocide, often while defending their parishioners.
END
Copyright (c) 2006 Catholic News Service/USCCB. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed.
CNS · 3211 Fourth St NE · Washington DC 20017 · 202.541.3250
|
|
|
|
