SENATOR Anastase Nzirasanaho, who has been undergoing trial in the Muhima Gacaca Courts in Kigali for allegedly taking part in the 1994 genocide, will now be tried by a conventional court, it has emerged.

The Executive Secretary of the National Service for Gacaca Jurisdictions, Domitille Mukantaganzwa told The New Times on Saturday that the Gacaca court had classified the Senator in the first category, people considered to be among the planners of the Genocide.

"During the gacaca proceedings in Kigali, many witnesses testified that the Senator was a leader, which automatically puts him under the first category,” Mukantaganzwa said by phone.

The senator is battling a case of his alleged complicity in the killing of a former opposition leader, Dr Theoneste Gafaranga, who died in the1994 Genocide.
Both Gafaranga and Nzirasanaho were reportedly members of the political bureau of the Social Democratic Party (PSD).

"His former colleagues in the same party have testified against him. We shall be taking him to court very soon because his file is ready,” Mukantaganzwa added.

Witnesses had earlier said that the Senator had aided and abetted the murder of Gafaranga who had been named in the transitional government as a representative of the PSD.
Nzirasanaho, originally from the former prefecture of Ruhengeri, in the north of Rwanda, has pleaded not guilty since. He says he is being framed.

The late Gafaranga was the husband to Astelie Nyirabenda, a member of the lower chamber of Parliament. Nzirasanaho, who claimed during the Gacaca proceedings as having been a close friend of Gafaranga, could not explain why he blocked a passage in his fence which was being used to ferry food to Gafaranga’s hideout next door.

The twist in Nzirasanaho’s case comes days after the Ministry of Education said it would summon the Senator for questioning over Genocide ideology in ACEDI de Mataba Secondary School in Gakenke district.

Nzirasanaho is the legal representative of the owners of the school, the Association pour La Culture et le Development Intégré (ACEDI).

According to a recent Parliamentary probe report, Genocide ideology at ACEDI School was rated as being among the highest in the country.

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