Sister Gertrude, left, and Sister Maria Kisito sit in court in Brussels as they
go on trial for their alleged roles in the 1994 Rwandan genocide

Nuns go on trial for Rwandan genocide

Foreign staff

FOUR Rwandans, including two Benedictine nuns, charged with taking part in the 1994 massacre of 800,000 people in Rwanda, went on trial in Belgium yesterday.

Prosecution and defence lawyers interviewed more than 100 prospective jurors amid tight security at the Brussels criminal court, with throngs of journalists jamming the courtroom as the four accused watched from behind a glass enclosure. The two nuns, who wore their brown and white habits, are charged with premeditated murder and crimes against humanity.

If found guilty, the suspects could face life in prison.

The charges are that:

On 22 April 1994, Benedictine Sister Maria Kisito, 36, who was born Julienne Makubutera, provided petrol that was used to set ablaze a building near her convent and health centre outside the southern Rwandan town of Butare, where 500 Tutsis were hiding.

On 21 April 1994, Benedictine Sister Gertrude, 42, who was born Consolata Mukangango, forced hundreds of Tutsis hiding in the convent to leave, knowing they were going to be killed. Around 600 died on 5 May, the prosecution alleges. Sister Gertrude asked officials to remove the last 30 Tutsis, who were then killed on 6 May.

National University of Rwanda Professor Vincent Ntezimana, 40, bears responsibility for the deaths of at least seven Tutsis who were murdered by Hutus.

Alphonse Higaniro, 52, owner of a match factory and an aide to President Juvenal Habyarimana who died in a plane crash on 6 April 1994 that set off the mass killings, incited Hutus to murder Tutsis and of consorting with Hutu militiamen.

A number of clergy have already been brought to trial for their alleged active roles in the Rwandan genocide.

The suspects are the first to be charged under a new Belgian law that allows individuals, including non-Belgians, to be tried in Belgium for war crimes committed elsewhere.

Because Rwanda is a little-known place for most Belgians, the jurors will receive a crash course in its ethnic history and divisions from several witnesses, including journalists and human rights activists.

Source:
http://thescotsman.co.uk/world.cfm?id=64887