WESTERN PROVINCE

RUSIZI — Police in Kamembe, Rusizi district working on a tip off, on Monday arrested the president of Ibuka, an umbrella of Genocide survivors in Kamembe sector for allegedly taking a bride from a Genocide suspect.

Louis David Rwigemera, 56, also the president of Gihundwe B Gacaca Court of Appeal, is accused of taking a bribe of Frw700, 000 from one Ferdinand Mwitende alias Bikomagu, a renowned genocide suspect in Rusizi district, who is accused of participating in the killing of several Rwandans at Kadashya road block, in Kamembe sector during the 1994 Genocide.

Police said they had been alerted that Rwigemera had previously tried to bribe one Delmas Munyeragwe, with Frw30,000, part of Frw700,000, Munyeragwe is the president of Gihundwe A Gacaca Court, which tried Mwitende, and sentenced him to 19 years in prison on February 7.

"We arrested him (Rwigemera) after learning that he wanted to bribe the president of Gihundwe A Gacaca Court of Appeal, Munyeragwe, with Frw30, 000 in order to acquit one Mwitende, a Genocide suspect who was handed 19 years sentence for his involvement in the 1994 Genocide," a police official who asked not to be named told The New Times.

However, speaking from Kamembe police station, Rwigemera dismissed the corruption charges leveled against him, saying "What I can truly tell you is that those are false allegations and I am determined to prove myself innocent before courts of law. How can a person like me, a Genocide survivor, and president of a Gacaca Court of Appeal, commit such an evil of involving in bribery."

He added that his arrest was an organised move by a few individuals, who were against his courts’ decision to acquit MP Elise Bisengimana, in September last year.

Several Genocide survivors have also been accusing the Rwigemera of using his position in Gacaca, to extort money from several Genocide suspects and their accomplices.

Job Rwabukambira, the Vice president of Ibuka in Rusizi district said, "I was not surprised of Rwigemera’s arrest, because he has not been impartial in all the Gacaca trials he handled. For instance, he said, his questions were always directed to Genocide witnesses and survivors, instead of asking suspects during trials."

By yesterday, he was still detained at Kamembe police post, but would be transfred to Cyangugu central for prosecution.

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