Priests' killers plead guilty
2008-06-18 14:02
Kigali - Two out of four Rwandan army officers being tried for their presumed role in the 1994 murder of 13 priests pleaded guilty at their first appearance in a Kigali court, state radio said on Wednesday.
Appearing on Tuesday, Captains John Butera and Dieudonne Rukeba pleaded guilty, while General Wilson Gumisiriza and Major Wilson Ukwishaka protested their innocence, Radio Rwanda said.
The four officers were arrested last week in Rwanda following a joint investigation by Rwandan prosecutors and the Tanzania-based International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), according to the Rwandan army.
The officers were accused of war crimes relating to the murder on June 05 1994, of 13 Catholic clerics, including three bishops.
800 000 people killed
The prosecutor requested the officers be detained so as to prevent them from fleeing the country as further investigations were carried out, said Radio Rwanda.
Meanwhile, the defence team asked for them to be conditionally released on the grounds that the arrest and detention were irregular.
The Rwandan Military High Court, presided by General Steven Karyango, was set to rule on Wednesday afternoon.
At the time of the killings, the four officers were members of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), the former Tutsi rebel movement currently in power in Kigali.
Among those murdered - most of whom were Hutus - were the archbishop of Kigali, the bishop of Byumba and the bishop of Kabgayi.
At least 800 000 people, mainly Tutsis, were killed in Rwanda between April and July 1994, according to the United Nations. The genocide was masterminded by Hutu extremists and finally stopped when the RPF seized power.