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Rwandan
Genocide: Two
Nuns Found Guilty
Back in 1994, the world
witness
one of the most horrific massacres of our age only second to the
Jewish
holocaust during World War Two. About one million or
more people,
the vast majority consisting of ethnic Tutsis, were
massacred by
rival ethnic Hutus. Rwanda is mainly a Roman Catholic
country, and
the involvement of priests and nuns in the genocide began
to take form as news began to surface, reporting that several local church
societies were involved in the 1994 Rwandan genocide, killing Tutsis
and moderate Hutus.
Last
April, it had
been reported two Rwandan nuns known as "Sisters"
Gertrude who is a Hutu,
and a mother superior of the Benedictine convent at Sova,
Rwanda, and
Marie Kisito, were found guilty in a Belgian court for participating in
the massive genocide. The 12 panel jury spends hours deliberating
into the early hours of Friday morning, June 8, 2001, before they came to
their conclusion that both nuns were guilty. This was the first time
Belgium used this particular law which was passed 7 years ago. It allows
the government to try cases of alleged human rights violations even
if they were committed abroad.
Now let's look closer at the crimes in particular, which
were committed by both Nuns. Nun Gertrude turned away
thousands of
ethnic Tutsis who were fleeing from the genocide. Instead
of
sheltering these poor people which could have saved their lives,
Nun
Gertrude called Hutu soldiers who then stoned, hacked, and
burned to death
over 5,000 men, women, and children. Nun Marie was
found guilty of
supplying Hutu soldiers with the petrol they needed to start a fire
and
burn 700 people to death, who were hiding in a garage on the
grounds of
the convent.
The Tutsi-dominated government eventually took control of the
whole
country, prompting the two nuns to leave. They fled to
Belgium, and
there they were caught and then put on trial. What is
amazing, is the fact that among Nun
Gertrude's accusers where fellow nuns, who blamed her for the
deaths of
over 30 of their family members who had been hidden in the
convent until
she called in the Hutu authorities. The prosecutor pointed
out, the
convent became a deadly trap (The Southern Cross, June 20,
2001).
Nun Gertrude was sentenced to only 15
years in
prison for her acts against her fellow man and God, while nun
Marie got only 12 years. Both nuns
were given the opportunity to speak in court before jury
deliberations on
their behalf, but Nun Gertrude said, she
had nothing to say, and Marie told the jurors that she was innocent
of any
wrong doing, the whole thing was a "lie" she
said.
Two days after the trial, the Vatican issued a
statement about the nuns who were found guilty of genocide. The statement
contained a very skeptical position towards the nuns guilt, and yet at the
same time, the Vatican tries to distance itself from them. Not surprisingly, there are
no statements from the Vatican indicating the nuns will be excommunicated,
furthering their position that the nuns did nothing wrong, despite
overwhelming evidence that included eyewitness accounts by their fellow
nuns.
This trial is only the tip of the
iceberg. The
truth is, the Hutu Priests and Nuns, were actively involved in
one of
the most horrific sinful acts of our time, the massacre of the ethnic
Tutsis. Even now, Italy refuses to hand over a Popish priest
named Athanase Seromba who
fled Rwanda and is now living in Italy, because of being sought for trial
for his alleged
crimes,
he committed during the 1994, ethnic massacre in Rwanda.
We must pray for these
people,
man's heart is so dark (Romans 3:11,12), God's justice will be
done in this world or in the next
for these people. But let's hope according to His will, that God
saves them from
eternal damnation by granting them repentance unto life. The only hope
we have is in Christ and Christ alone! |
