Genocide at NUR: Trials to begin this month

HUYE — The Gacaca Court in Huye district is in the final stages of gathering evidence against perpetrators of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, working at the National University of Rwanda. This is in order for them to be brought to book. The trials are scheduled to commence later this month.The investigation team composed of nine judges from different courts neighbouring the university has set September 15 as the deadline for the completion of collecting evidence against the suspects. “We are gathering information specifically on Genocide at the university, we are also compiling files of people who will be expected to appear before court,” said a member of the team. The university is alleged to have played a prominent role during the Genocide especially in Butare. Different accounts heard during Gacaca proceedings in courts around the campus have adduced sufficient evidence that students and staff of the university played a role in the massacres. Some students and staff have already been tried and convicted of crimes allegedly committed mainly in their areas of residence. Some of the university staff who have been tried and convicted by Gacaca include; Marie Therese Kampire, a lecturer at the then Faculty of Political and Social Sciences and her husband, one Mutwewingabo, the university vice Rector then, Jean Nshimiyumuremye (tried in absentia) and 10 medical doctors working at the University Teaching Hospital in Butare. Charles Kalisa, the Gacaca coordinator in Ngoma and Tumba sectors, says getting credible evidence on how Genocide was carried out at the university is a challenging process. “You have a situation where people who were at the university at the time completed their studies and are spread all over the country and abroad while many fled the country,” he said. According to a study conducted by the University’s Centre for Conflict Management, over 400 staff and students are believed to have been killed during the Genocide. Ends