Скачать или смотреть RWANDA: BISHOP MISAGO ON TRIAL FOR GENOCIDE

(14 Sep 1999) Eng/French/Nat

A Roman Catholic Bishop, accused of taking part in the genocide in Rwanda, has gone on trial in the capital, Kigali.

Bishop Augustin Misago is alleged to have participated in the 1994 attempt to exterminate Rwandan Tutsis.

Speaking in court on Tuesday, Misago denied the charges against him.

APTN spoke to the bishop just days before his trial date.

Inside Kigali's Central Prison, tens of thousands of men accused of genocide are waiting to go on trial or await their sentencing date.

If found guilty of committing murder during the horrific 100 days, they face the death penalty.

More than half a million Tutsis died in the slaughter led by the extremist Hutu government.

Now, the Rwandan government is attempting to bring the perpetrators to justice - putting 120,000 prisoners on trial for their roles during the bloodbath.

Many of these prisoners are crowded into tiny cells and live under appalling conditions inside Kigali's Central Prison.

One man has been given more privacy and space than most, and lives in a room of his own.

He is Roman Catholic Bishop Augustin Misago, the first-ever Catholic bishop to go on trial for genocide.

Misago is accused of helping to plot the genocide that lasted from April to July 1994, and of sending three priests to their deaths.

He is also accused of forcing thousands of frightened Tutsis to leave his church.

He denies all of this, saying he thought the authorities would stop the killing.

He says he only realised these same policemen were overseeing the massacre when it was already too late.

The bishop says he is innocent; that he could do nothing to stop the madness.

SOUNDBITE (French):
"Our Mother Mary of Jesus tells us, her disciples, to be prepared to carry the cross with him, behind him.....I had not the power to perform a miracle, to stop what was going on".
SUPERCAPTION: Bishop Augustin Misago

The man given the job of making sure the guilty do not go unpunished says he's sure Bishop Misago is guilty of crimes against humanity.

SOUNDBITE (English):
"It is true. People saw him. A number of people who were eyewitnesses, of what he did, what he said, what he taught people. So he is just a suspect like the others. He will appear before the court as he appeared before and if he is found guilty, he will be punished."
SUPERCAPTION: Sheik Abbelkarim Harelimana, Minister of Interior

The prominent Catholic believes his trial is politically motivated, and that it is hypocritical for the world to blame others for the genocide, when it took so long for the international community to respond to the crisis.

SOUNDBITE (French):
"The international community, represented by the United Nations, were here. But they withdrew their mission and abandoned us. Even the most powerful countries, including the United States. They knew what was happening. They didn't move to stop the evil. Now, they accuse the church of not doing anything."
SUPERCAPTION: Bishop Augustin Misago

Rwanda is the most Catholic country in Africa.

During the genocide, many Tutsis sought refuge inside the country's churches.

Nevertheless, tens of thousands of these people were killed.

The Hutus would sometimes throw grenades into the churches, and then finish the job with machetes.

Five-thousand people were killed in this church in Nyamatra.

It now stands as a reminder of the violence.

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