- The United Nations court has acquitted Former Catholic priest, Father Hormisdas Nsengimana, who was facing charges of the infamous Rwanda’s 1994 genocide. Father Nsengimana, had been imprisoned for seven years since his 2002 arrest in Cameroon.
In the Tanzania-based International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, Judge Erik Mose ordered for the clergy’s immediate release from the UN detention facility in Arusha, saying the prosecution had failed to prove its case.
Father Nsengimana was alleged to have been at the center of a group of Hutu extremists that planned and carried out targeted attacks in the southern Rwandan town of Nyanza, where he was head of a Catholic school.
He also was also accused of supervising at least three roadblocks that were used to stop and kill Tutsis, according to a statement by The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.
Judge Mose said the chamber had assessed all the evidence supporting the three counts against Nsengimana and did not find any credible evidence to implicate him on the alleged charges.
About 800, 000 people were killed n the 100-day slaughter by Hutu militias and government officials. The massacre followed the assassination of Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana on 6 April 1994, when his plane was shot down.
It was the second acquittal by the court since Monday, when the appeals court overturned a conviction and 20-year sentence faced by Protais Zigiranyirazo, the former Rwandan president's brother-in-law. Mr Zigiranyirazo was sentenced to 20 years in December 2008.
Mr Nsengimana is one of the four Catholic priests indicted by the ICTR.
afrol News - It is called "financial inclusion", and it is a key government policy in Rwanda. The goal is that, by 2020, 90 percent of the population is to have and actively use bank accounts. And in only four years, financial inclusion has doubled in Rwanda.
afrol News - The UN's humanitarian agencies now warn about a devastating famine in Sudan and especially in South Sudan, where the situation is said to be "imploding". Relief officials are appealing to donors to urgently fund life-saving activities in the two countries.
afrol News - Fear is spreading all over West Africa after the health ministry in Guinea confirmed the first Ebola outbreak in this part of Africa. According to official numbers, at least 86 are infected and 59 are dead as a result of this very contagious disease.
afrol News - It is already a crime being homosexual in Ethiopia, but parliament is now making sure the anti-gay laws will be applied in practical life. No pardoning of gays will be allowed in future, but activist fear this only is a signal of further repression being prepared.
afrol News / Africa Renewal - Ethiopia's ambitious plan to build a US$ 4.2 billion dam in the Benishangul-Gumuz region, 40 km from its border with Sudan, is expected to provide 6,000 megawatts of electricity, enough for its population plus some excess it can sell to neighbouring countries.
front page
| news
| countries
| archive
| currencies
| news alerts login
| about afrol News
| contact
| advertise
| español