Posted on 02/08/2002 1:55:48 PM PST by AdrianZ
Priest accused of Rwandan massacre surrenders to UN
By Anne Penketh
08 February 2002
A Rwandan priest who was hidden in Tuscany by the Catholic Church more than six months ago to avoid extradition on genocide charges has surrendered to the United Nations tribunal to face trial.
Father Athanase Seromba vanished in July shortly before he was due to say Mass in a village outside Florence. He had promised to explain to parishioners why he had been charged with genocide and crimes against humanity for his role in the 1994 massacres that left almost one million minority Tutsis and moderate Hutus dead. The Church's decision to spirit away Father Seromba, a Hutu, sparked international outrage and led to calls from human rights groups for his extradition.
Italy defied the UN chief prosecutor, Carla Del Ponte, by arguing it needed an ad hoc decree to co-operate with the court's extradition demand, but the Italian media suggested the Vatican was behind the government foot-dragging.
Father Seromba, 37, is accused of ordering a bulldozer to raze a church in Nyange, western Rwanda, in April 1994, where about 2,000 Tutsis had sought shelter. He allegedly told Hutus attacking the church to destroy the building because they could always build another one. According to the indictment, he then "ordered the Interahamwe militiamen to clean the 'rubbish' (meaning dead bodies). The corpses were buried in a mass grave."
The Church moved Father Seromba to Italy soon afterwards, ostensibly to study, but later he resumed his parish work under an assumed name.
Two fellow priests from the Nyange church were sentenced to death in April 1998 for their part in the massacre. The driver of one of the bulldozers was given a life jail term.
Father Seromba, who has denied the charges, saying he had already left Nyange when the killings began, surrendered to the tribunal in Arusha, Tanzania, on Wednesday night, after months of negotiation with the UN prosecutor.
In a letter to be published in a local church newspaper in Tuscany, he explains that "in order to deal with accusations against me I have decided to go personally to Arusha to respond to everything". He reiterates his denial of involvement in the destruction of the church.
The human rights group African Rights has published graphic testimonies from former employees of Father Seromba, a former policeman and other local officials, as well as seven survivors of the church massacre.
Catholic officials in Tuscany said they hoped international justice could be "swift and calm and that the judges could quickly shed light on the truth".
Seromba, who had changed his name to 'Don Anastasio Sumba Bura' during his stay in Italy, was the priest in charge of Nyange Catholic Church during the April-June 1994 genocide in Rwanda.
This is from a different source.
And why would a Catholic Priest destroy a Catholic church and then be protected, allegedly, by the vatican?
Exactly, it was his Church.
Vjeko Curic, Franciscan Priest, Murdered in Rwanda
Being a Hutu and living in Rwanda is like living on a 24 hours contract.
On February 12, 97, Father Guy PINARD was killed while celebrating a mass. This incident was a wake-up call for people who did not realize at that point that things were going terribly wrong. Father Guy was murdered after he discovered and denounced the presence of mass graves in the backyard of the Catechists school, which was occupied by the Rwandan Army before Father Guy himself claimed it. May I remind you that he was killed by a Tutsi, who was also a teacher at Kampanga Elementary School. Those who denounced him were incarcerated, and their case has been classified with no follow-up.
Pope Grieves At Murder Of Six Rwandans
VATICAN CITY (CWN) - Pope John Paul issued a statement expressing his grief on Monday at the murder of six Rwandans, including two priests.
The statement, delivered by Secretary of State Cardinal Angelo Sodano via telegram to the Bishop of Butare, expressed the Holy Father's condolences. The six people were killed by unidentified attackers as they road a bus on Sunday night in the Diocese of Butare. The murdered priests were identified as Fathers Isaie Habakurama and Pascal Yirirwahandi.
More than 25 people, mainly Catholics, have been killed by unidentified attackers in the past few weeks. The attacks are suspected to be ethnically motivated. Hutu rebels massacred 17 schoolgirls and a Belgian nun and wounded 14 other schoolgirls in an attack on schools in north-western Rwanda on April 29.
The two Catholic priests, Marc Francois and Jean Lefebvre, were abducted under the cover of the night on Tuesday. Eye witnesses say about 150 armed attackers, chanting war songs, arrived at 7 p.m. local time, and raided the residence of the missionaries. Thirty minutes later, they ransacked everything including a health centre run by the church.
There is more to this story than what is being reported. Many of the clergy and nuns have been killed by militant Hutus. Inside the Church there were Tutus and moderate Hutus. Some of the clergy have been killed by Tutus like Fr.Guy Pinnard when he found about the grave sites.
Even as the trial of Bishop Misago ground along, prosecutors brought new charges against Father Athanasius Seromba, who had left Rwanda after the massacres to take up new pastoral duties in Italy. At first, the eyewitness testimony against Father Seromba seemed very serious indeed. But soon it was balanced by new charges, brought against the Rwandan government by a political leader who had also been driven into exile.
Lu 12:2 For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known.
"All accusations against Misago have been dropped. Misago is free. Misago has won the trial," said Criminal Court Judge Jariel Sekarusu in the capital, Kigali.
It seems that the same may happen again. However, the Church has condemned individuals who have been guilty. But with what has happened in the past, the Church should be cautious in giving up their clergy.
The U.N. Tribunal: Papers, we don't need no stink'n papers.
Diplomatic immunity trumps the Vatican
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