Athanase Seromba Convicted and Sentenced to Life Imprisonment

08/20/09
Original article

Gregoire Ndahimana, former mayor of Kivumo, western Rwanda, arrested last week in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity is expected at the seat of the International Criminal tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) in Arusha,Tanzania, before the end of the week.

"He could be here before the end of this week," said Bocar Sy, ICTR's Chief of Press Service during a press conference on Thursday.

However, he admitted, there was a delay on the transfer of that accused which would normally take short time unlike other transfers from other continents such as Europe and the United States which would take longer time as they would first be compelled to go through legal battle. U United Nations

He said the arrest of Ndahimana was a result of a joint operation between the DRC government and two UN institutions, ICTR and United Nations Organization in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC).

Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congonited Nations Organization sion in the

The defendant is accused of playing a role in organizing the killings of mostly ethnic Tutsis who had sought refugee at the Nyange Parish Church, Kibuye prefecture, western Rwanda between April 6 and 20, 1994.

Former Nyange Parish Priest, Fr. Athanase Seromba had already been convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for his involvement in the massacres at the site.

According to the UN report about 800 000 people, mostly Tutsis and few moderate Hutus perished in the Rwandan 1994 genocide.