Arusha, March 28, 2006 (FH) - Father Athanase Seromba, the first catholic priest to face trial at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), was defended on Tuesday by the man who demolished his church in Nyange (western Rwanda) during the 1994 genocide. The priest, 43 years old, is charged, in relation to the massacre of almost 2,000 faithful Tutsis, who had sought refuge in the church in April 1994.

The prosecutor alleges that this man of the cloth ordered the bulldozer driver to destroy the church, which, as it collapsed, buried the Tutsi refugees. “Seromba did not order to me to destroy the church”, the driver in question, Anastase Nkinamubanzi, protested on several occasions. He had been brought to give testimony by the priest’s defence team. He stated that it was the authorities in the commune of Kivumu, in which the Nyange church is located, who “had forced him” to demolish the church, through death threats. He indicated that the destruction of the building, which he said took place on April 16, 1994, lasting from 10.30 in the morning to 4.00 in the afternoon, began with the sacristy. According to the witness, who is currently being held in Rwanda where he has been imprisoned for life for his participation in the genocide, Seromba tried in vain to stop the demolition. Nkinamubanzi explained that the priest had been pushed back by a young man armed with a rifle. “Seromba was attacked by the administration, communal police officers, and armed civilians. He could do nothing,” added Nkinamubanzi, while being questioned by Patrice Monthé, the Cameroonian defence counsel for Seromba. Finally he denied the allegations that he had been paid by Seromba to carry out the dirty work. He still has to face cross examination by the prosecutor. The Seromba trial began in September 2004. Two other catholic priests, Emmanuel Rukundo and Hormisdas Nsengimana are also being held by the ICTR and are waiting for their cases to commence. ER/AT