WESTERN PROVINCE

KIBUYE — A body of a 25 year-old genocide survivor only identified as Madimba was on Saturday found dumped on the banks of Lake Kivu near Bupfune.

The decomposing body was found naked by residents. Medical reports indicate that the deceased was hit to death using clubs and a knife before being dumped. He is survived by a wife and no children.

The family and neighbors last saw him last Monday in the company of a notorious criminal called Habyara, currently held by police as the prime suspect.

"We asked Habyara on Tuesday evening where he had left Madimba but he simply told us that he had got him a taxi, without telling us to which destination," said one of the deceased’s neighbors.

It’s said that the suspect (Habyara) first lured Madimba into sharing a drink in Nyakigezi village in Kibuye, after discovering that he had Frw30,000. It was at the drinking joint that Habyara allegedly hatched a plan to kill him.

But Habyara claims he is innocent, "He was my close friend so I couldn’t kill him," he said.

The police say Habyara was the last person to be seen with Madimba and since Monday he disappeared. "That’s the evidence we have at hand," said the police. Police added that they were carrying out further investigations.

The causes of Madimba’s death are contradictory but many say is a victim of genocide ideology. Not only was he a genocide survivor but he had also been a witness in Gacaca.

Residents say the assailants may have wanted to kill him in order to eliminate any more evidence that he would bring up against Genocide suspects. "Since he was a Gacaca witness he was killed to destroy more evidence. He has been complaining of people trailing him ever since he first testified in Gacaca though he could never pinpoint anybody," said one of their neighbours called Mama Uwitonze.

Madimba’s father Alphonso Munyankoni had survived the 1994 genocide but was later murdered the same way in 1996. "Alphonso Munyankoni’s body (the father to Madimba) was discovered in Nyarusazi in a trench after being hit with clubs in the head as well," said one of the people at the scene.

The suspect (Habyara) has always had a reputation of theft but had never gotten arrested over murder.

This is the second murder incident within a month. The first one was two weeks ago in Rubengera Secondary School; where they found a student Nkomati Bienvenue, 17, also a genocide survivor, murdered in a class room. His body was found hanging up.

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