Former MP Bisengimana’s Genocide trial postponed

WESTERN PROVINCE RUSIZI – The Gihundwe Gacaca Court has postponed the trial of the former Member of Parliament, Elysée Bisengimana, until the court gets the file of the previous proceedings from other gacaca courts. Bisengimana who was arrested and detained at Cyangugu Central Prison last week, faces genocide related charges. The Gacaca judge who presided over the hearing last Friday at Groupe Scolaire Gihundwe, said that they would resume proceedings after two weeks to enable the court to obtain previous court dossiers. The judges suggested that previous judges had deliberately delayed handing over the files in order to derail the case while probably concealing implicating evidence. The judges say that even the evidence they have on the role of Bisengimana in the 1994 genocide contradicts that which was collected during the information gathering, something which they said implies that the first source of information could have been compromised. Kalibana Marara, the court President said that Bisengimana’s case has a lot of contradictions – especially by defence witnesses – which call for thorough investigations. The former lawmaker was arrested last Wednesday February 18 after a panel of Gacaca judges at the Groupe Scolaire Gihundwe in Kamembe Sector noted that he planned to flee the country. He was arrested together with a co-accused, Gabriel Murwanashyaka who has been working with the National Unity and Reconciliation Commission (NURC), a former teacher at Groupe Scolaire Gihundwe in charge of discipline during the genocide. According to the judges, the duo is accused of having participated in the killing of several Tutsis at the school who included Deogratias Hakizimana, Daniel Ndushabandi among others. Bisengimana is also accused of being among the leaders who were in charge of mobilising various meetings that laid the ground for the 1994 Genocide in the former Cyangugu Prefecture. Ends