Genocide suspect Venant Rutunga, on Thursday, August 12, appeared before the Kicukiro Primary court and was charged for genocide crimes. The 72-year-old showed up at court in the morning hours, donning a white shirt, a blue pair of jeans and white sneakers. Prosecution charged him on three counts: Genocide, complicity in committing Genocide, and extermination as a crime against humanity. According to the prosecutors, Rutunga committed the crimes mostly between April 26 and 30, 1994 in Butare (current Huye district) where he was working as the Regional Director of the Rwanda Agricultural Research Institute (ISAR-Rubona). They presented to court a number of crimes that the defendant did during the genocide, that led to loss of many lives – especially those of the employees of the institution he was leading. For example, prosecutors pinned him on having participated in the killing of a one Epaphrodite Kalisa, who served as a cashier at ISAR “Rutunga instructed the gendarmerie (policemen) to look for him from wherever he was hiding. They did so, and after arresting him, they presented him to Rutunga, before they killed him,” the prosecutors said. On another occasion, Rutunga allegedly did the same for George Ndamage, another Tutsi employee. “Partnering with other officials, Rutunga convened a meeting aimed at finding out all the Tutsi employees who had not yet been killed. Here, they realized Ndamage was still in hiding. So, they sent the Interahamwe to look for him. They got him from his hiding within ISAR, and killed him there,” the prosecutors said. According to witness accounts, Rutunga rewarded the militiamen who had killed Ndamaje, by giving them a cow. The prosecutors also cited another incident when Rutunga drove a car belonging to ISAR and went to meet the Prefect of Butare, to request him for armed policemen to assist in killing the Tutsis who had successfully defended themselves against the Interahamwe. It is said that he drove back to the institution with 10 policemen in the car. These went out and killed people in large numbers, working together with the Interahamwe. The prosecutors also accused him of opening ISAR’s store, to provide tools like slashers and pangas to the killers, for use in murdering innocent Tutsis. In his defence, however, Rutunga denied the charges, saying he did not commit the crimes of which he is being accused. He said, for instance, that he knew Ndamaje and Kalisa, but he never took part in their killing, arguing that those that killed them were tried and sentenced. He admitted that he went to meet with the Prefect of Butare and requested for policemen, but the aim was not to kill Tutsis, but rather, to defend ISAR from attacks by some outsiders, because he had learnt that there was an imminent attack that would happen. In fact, he argued that, while he was away, the attackers came in, killed people and destroyed property, including his own house. Backing him up, his lawyer Sophonie Sebaziga commented on the accusations of rewarding the killers who murdered Ndamage, saying the cows in ISAR’s farms belonged to the government, not to Rutunga, and thus, he could not give out something that is not his. Rutunga argued that he had no hatred for Tutsis, giving an example, that he collaborated with them in his work as a researcher on many of the scholarly articles and books that he wrote. Prosecution requested court to remand Rutunga as further investigations into the case continue, since he is a flight risk, and due to the fact that the charges he is facing are capital in nature. Court will pass a ruling on his bail application on Tuesday, August 17.
