Kanyarukiga - JUDGEMENT AND SENTENCE - Refworld

Judgement and Sentence 1 November 2010
365. According to Witness CBR, there were no attacks before midday. 964 The Hutu assailants
attacked the Tutsi at the parish around midday, when Ndahimana instructed them to “begin
work”. 965 The assailants threw stones at the Tutsi at Nyange Parish, and the Tutsi also threw stones
back. 966 The witness recalled that they were forced to withdraw because the Tutsi were too
strong. 967
366. The assailants withdrew to the Statue of the Virgin Mary, where a reservist named Rukara,
climbed onto the roof of a store in the Nyange Centre at around 1.00 p.m. and threw grenades. 968
The grenades killed Tutsi in great numbers, and the rest of them retreated. 969 Rukara continued to
throw grenades at the Tutsi until they reached the church. 970 Once the Tutsi reached the church,
some entered and locked the church door behind them. 971 Others took refuge in the presbytery or
fled to the nearby woods. 972 Witness CBR testified that he went towards the presbytery with a group
of assailants led by Ndungutse and Kayishema. 973 Father Seromba prevented them from entering
the presbytery and asked them to clean the place from the dead bodies. 974
367. Witness CBR recalled that the road from the Statue of the Virgin Mary to the church was
littered with corpses. 975 The witness testified that Ndungutse and Kayishema went to find
equipment to remove the bodies, which they referred to as “dirt,” from the church grounds. 976
Witness CBR testified that two pieces of equipment and two lorries were brought to the parish from
the Astaldi company at around 2.00 or 3.00 p.m. 977 One bulldozer was used to dig a pit for the
bodies while the other was used to load bodies onto the lorries. 978
368. Later in the day, after the bodies were removed by the bulldozers from the road leading to
the Nyange Church, Witness CBR and other assailants headed towards the church. 979 Communal
police had arrived with firearms, and they began shooting at the Tutsi through the windows and
doors of the church. 980 As the police ran out of ammunition, IPJ Kayishema arrived in a vehicle
driven by someone named Kiragi with a jerry can of petrol. 981
369. Witness CBR recalled that the assailants sprayed fuel onto the windows and doors of the
church and tried to light it on fire, but the Tutsi, who were inside the church, put the fire out with
their blankets and dust. 982 Some of the assailants used a ladder to reach the higher windows on the
964 T. 9 September 2009, p. 59.
965 T. 9 September 2009, pp. 22-23, 25, 59. The witness did not leave the Statue of the Virgin Mary between the time
that he arrived and the point at which the first attack was launched. T. 9 September 2009, p. 59.
966 T. 9 September 2009, p. 25.
967 T. 9 September 2009, pp. 25, 66.
968 T. 9 September 2009, pp. 25, 66. The witness recalled that Rukara had been a soldier in Habyarimana’s army and
was a reservist at the time.
969 T. 9 September 2009, pp. 25, 66.
970 T. 9 September 2009, p. 25.
971 T. 9 September 2009, p. 25.
972 T. 9 September 2009, p. 25.
973 T. 9 September 2009, p. 25.
974 T. 9 September 2009, p. 25.
975 T. 9 September 2009, pp. 25, 26. “When we pursued the refugees, we walked on dead bodies. There were bodies
everywhere right up to the church compound.” T. 9 September 2009, p. 26.
976 T. 9 September 2009, p. 26.
977 T. 9 September 2009, pp. 26, 66.
978 T. 9 September 2009, pp. 27, 67.
979 T. 9 September 2009, p. 27.
980 T. 9 September 2009, p. 27.
981 T. 9 September 2009, pp. 27, 65. The witness testified that Kiragi owned the vehicle.
982 T. 9 September 2009, pp. 27, 65.
The Prosecutor v. Gaspard Kanyarukiga, Case No. ICTR-2002-78-T 88