When his name was called out, it was his turn to give testimony about the crimes he committed during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, and for which he was convicted by courts, in an act of reconciliation with the families whose loved ones he killed.

This was one of the routine events where Genocide survivors are brought together with willing Genocide convicts serving sentences in prisons as an opportunity for the convicts to reach out to those they wronged.

That was the case of Leodomir Bwanakweli, a former Communal Police officer in former Kanzenze Commune – the current Bugesera District – whose infamous cruelty in the genocide is still vivid in genocide survivors’ minds 25 years later.

The now 71-year-old Bwanakweli, a father of 12, who is a serving life sentence in Bugesera Prison, testified that he participated in one attack that killed nine people in the swamps of Nyarurogo on the banks of River Nyabarongo.

He said the victims’ bodies were thrown into the river’s water.

However, survivors disagreed with him arguing that he killed far more people than he claims.

"During the genocide, I did horrible things because of the bad leadership that brainwashed us to commit the tragic acts in the Genocide that occurred in this district of ours,” he said.

"The attack I was part of was in the Nyarurogo papyrus. We were many people in the attack such that we killed nine people,” he said adding that he managed to identify two victims; Karangwa and Rwakayigamba,” he said.

"I used the gun which I was given by the commune to protect people but I used it to instead kill those I was supposed to protect,” he said, emphasizing that this was the only attack in which he took part.

The attack claimed people from Kanzenze, Kayumba and Mwogo sectors in the district, and Bwanakweli seemed sincere to everyone that did not know him during the Genocide 25 years ago.

He is one of 50 genocide convicts who gathered in Bugesera District’s Mwogo Sector last week on Thursday, during the reconciliation event with survivors, an event that was facilitated by Prison Fellowship Rwanda and Rwanda Correctional Services.   

However, Jean Paul Nkurunziza, a survivor from the area, said that Bwanakweli was not telling the whole truth, adding that "as survivors, we were ready to forgive him had he been truthful about the atrocities he committed in this area.

"I personally, I know him taking part in several attacks. When he says that the Nyarurogo attack claimed the lives of nine people, he is lying. I was among about 60 people who were hiding there then, but only about seven of us survived the attack,” he said.

Ernestine Mukakarangwa, another survivor said that there were many Tutsi in that papyrus who had come from different areas of the district including Kayumba, Mayange, Maranyundo, Kanzenze, and Ntarama.

She also pinned him to another attack in Karambi that was launched on Tutsis in that area as they were leaving Mwogo.

"We decided to hide in the papyrus because guns were deployed to shoot us. We had escaped death by machetes in our villages and we were struggling to save our lives from the bullets. We were many people, when he [Bwanakweli] says that only nine people died, it surprises me,” she said.

She turned as started addressing Bwanakweli directly;

"As we were crossing the bridge at Karambi, you shoot at us, mothers who had children on their back died there, and some people died later as they sustained serious wounds resulting in uncontrollable bleeding.”

However, Bwanakweli stuck to his guns, saying he did not participate in any other attack apart from one where nine people died.

"Bwanakweli should go and reconsider, then come to ask forgiveness when he is more candid. We are ready to offer it to him,” she said. 

Bishop John Rucyahana, Chairperson of the National Unity and Reconciliation Commission (NURC), and head of Prison Fellowship International Rwanda, urged Genocide convicts to confess openly so that the survivors get a clear picture of what happened to their loved ones.

"As Rwandans, what we are doing is building our unity, our Rwandan spirit, to heal wounds so that asking forgiveness heals instead of leaving problems. When seeking forgiveness, you should tell all because it is part of the healing process even for the survivors.”

He said that Bwanakweli should go back and reflect about his role in the genocide, adding that the unity and reconciliation process should be handled carefully and not rushed.

editor@newtimesrwanda.com