MP’s Genocide trial moved to higher level

KICUKIRO - A Gacaca court in Kanombe Sector Saturday ruled that the case of a Member of Parliament accused of Genocide be tried in the first category of genocide suspects for allegedly inciting killers during the 1994 genocide of Tutsis. Béatrice Nirere who was elected to parliament on the Rwandese Patriotic Front (RPF) ticket in September, will now be tried by the newly empowered Gacaca Court in Kanombe Sector. Nirere is accused of distributing uniforms to killers and collaborating with them in Ayinsanga cell of Kanombe Sector, Kicukiro District. “Her responses during the hearing qualified her to be put in the first category of genocide suspects,” said Eugène Mugemanshuro, the President of Kanombe Gacaca Court. The charges were triggered by the testimony of Pierre Bizimana, a resident of Ayinsanga, gave to a Kanombe Gacaca court last year. Nirere who was in charge of social affairs in the former Byumba Prefecture during the genocide denies the accusations. She told the court on Friday that she had always distanced herself from the acts of fellow members in the former ruling party, MRND, when they started killing Tutsis after the shooting down of Habyarimana’s plane. She explained that she gave the party’s uniform to Bizimana believing that he was really going to save people. “I was never involved in their actions, I hope the truth will come out and I beg people to speak the truth,” she told the court. Mugemanshuro said that the MP’s dossier will be handed to other gacaca judges to try it in the first category as soon as possible. He said that these judges are expected to start their work next week and they will decide when to try her again and provide the judgment. Ends