Rugambarara pins interahamwe

The Former Mayor of Bicumbi, in the Eastern Province, Juvenal Rugambarara, confessed that the notorious Interahamwe militias were involved in the killings of Tutsi civilians in his area during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsis.

Thursday, April 29, 2010

The Former Mayor of Bicumbi, in the Eastern Province, Juvenal Rugambarara, confessed that the notorious

Interahamwe militias were involved in the killings of Tutsi civilians in his area during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsis.

"Interahamwe took part in the killings. These are ones who perpetrated the killings of Tutsis in Bicumbi Commune,” agencies quote Rugambarara as saying recently at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR).

In a cross-examination by Prosecutor Takeh Sendze, Rugambarara further conceded that the pro-Hutu Interahamwe militia was a youth wing of the then ruling party MRND.

He was testifying as the 35th defence witness for genocide suspect, Joseph Nzirorera, former MRND Secretary General. 

Nzirorera is jointly tried with his co-top MRND officials-- President Mathieu Ngirumpatse and his former vice president Edouard Karemera.

Meanwhile, former Kigali Prefet (Governor), Colonel Tharcisse Renzaho, Tuesday concluded his evidence in defence of Nzirorera by admitting that MRND top officials attended a meeting which formed the interim government on April 8, 1994 shortly after assassination of President Habyarimana.

Ends