Gen. Rwarakabije verdict for Saturday

GASABO - A Gacaca court in Kacyiru sector will this Saturday render a verdict in the case against Maj Gen. Paul Rwarakabije, a senior officer in the Rwanda Defence Forces. The development was confirmed yesterday by Protais Musoni, the coordinator of Gacaca courts in Gasabo district. Rwarakabije was a top commander of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) before his repatriation and subsequent reintegration into the Rwandan army. “The last witness has been called to testify this Saturday and thereafter, the judges will sit and come up with a verdict,” Musoni said during a phone interview with The New Times yesterday. He said that almost all witnesses summoned by the Gacaca court had testified in favour of Rwarakabije except one. Rwarakabije, who is commissioner in the National Demobilisation and Reintegration Commission, appeared before the traditional court three times for the course of his trial, to answer his alleged role in the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. “It is alleged that he might have planned the killing of some people who were hiding in his house and others who sought refuge at the Gendarmerie headquarters in Kacyiru,” Musoni said. The Gendarmerie headquarters is the current headquarter of Rwanda National Police. “They say, some people went to hide in his house then he left and militias later came and killed them while others who had sought refuge at the police headquarters were hounded out by the General,” Musoni explained. According to Musoni, having been a Lieutenant Colonel before the genocide, Rwarakabije’s status places him in the 1st category of 1994 Genocide suspects. Rwarakabije was a senior staff in the gendarmerie before and during the Genocide. He fled to Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), after the defeat by Rwanda Patriotic Front Army in July 1994. Some former military officers appeared and have been acquitted by Gacaca courts including Colonel Alloys Nsekarije. Ends