WESTERN PROVINCE

RUSIZI - A former Member of Parliament, Elysée Bisengimana, has been arrested and is currently detained at Cyangugu central prison in Kamembe sector, Rusizi over genocide charges.

Bisengimana, 43, who was an MP since 1999 until last year, was arrested on Wednesday evening after a panel of Gacaca judges at Groupe Scolaire Gihundwe in Kamembe Sector noted that he planned to flee the country.

The president of the court, only identified as Marara, said that the former lawmaker will have to be escorted from the prison to appear every day before Gacaca sessions at the school until he is either convicted or cleared of the charges.

According to the Gacaca jury, Besengimana is accused of having had a hand in the killing of several Tutsis at Groupe Scolaire Gihundwe who included Deogratias Hakizimana, Daniel Ndushabandi among others.

He is also accused of being among the leaders who were in charge of mobilising various meetings that laid the ground for the 1994 Genocide in the former Cyangugu Prefecture, now in the Western Province.

Jean Claude Tabaro, who was among the witnesses, also accused Bisengimana of being among those who drew lists of names of Tutsis who were killed in the genocide especially at the Gihundwe School.

Bisengimana was arrested alongside with co-accused, Gabriel Murwanashyaka, a former teacher at Groupe Scolaire Gihundwe in charge of discipline during the genocide.

Like Bisengimana, Murwanashyaka is accused of having participated in the killing of Tutsis in Cyangugu.

One of the witnesses, Pascal Rwigemera was also sentenced to three months in prison for providing false information regarding what he knows about the role of Bisengimana and Murwabashyaka in the Genocide.  

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