(Paris) “We were faced with a fait accompli”, said Thursday the former Rwandan prefect Laurent Bucyibaruta at his trial in Paris for genocide, to explain his inaction after the murder of Tutsi prisoners in 1994, one of the massacres where his responsibility is called into question.
Posted at 1:02 p.m.
At the end of April 1994, between 100 and 250 Tutsi had been killed in Gikongoro prison by their fellow Hutu prisoners. Other prisoners transferred from other establishments suffered the same fate in the following weeks, including three priests at the end of May 1994.
If the testimonies diverge, several prisoners and guards affirmed that Laurent Bucyibaruta, prefect of Gikongoro, southern region of Rwanda, between 1992 and July 1994, had visited the prison just before the massacre, in the company of other local authorities. .
According to the prosecution, he then said nothing when the strongman of the gendarmerie who accompanied him ordered the killing of the Tutsi prisoners or even, according to one of the witnesses, he himself incited to eliminate them.
“In April 1994, I did not go to Gikongoro prison”, denied Laurent Bucyibaruta before the Paris Assize Court.
The ex-prefect has been on trial since May 9 for genocide, complicity in genocide and complicity in crimes against humanity, charges he disputes.
Aged 78, suffering from several pathologies, he attends the hearing seated in an armchair and speaks slowly, sometimes with difficulty.
One of the two general attorneys reminds him of the statements made during the investigation by the head guard of the prison, now deceased, who claimed to have telephoned him the day after the massacre to inform him of the situation.
Laurent Bucyibaruta assures: “I do not remember this case”. He maintains that he was only informed of the murders several days later, by “the head of the prefectural intelligence service”.
Requisitioned trucks
Asked about the absence of prosecutions against those responsible, he explains: “We were faced with a fait accompli”.
“It’s called a crime, even a murder: what do you do when you learn of a crime? », is astonished the president Jean-Marc Lavergne.
“At that time, there was no possibility of carrying out investigations. They were to take place later, when the situation would have stabilized, ”defends the ex-prefect.
The president observes that three priests, killed later, were arrested and interrogated by the prosecutor of Gikongoro, while, according to the prefect, the judiciary was at a standstill: “What crime did they commit, apart from maybe that of being a Tutsi? »
As is often the case in his answers, the accused is concerned to delimit the respective attributions of each authority: “It was the public prosecutor who had issued an arrest warrant, executed by the gendarmes. It was not expected that the prefect be informed of the reason for the arrest”.
– “Weren’t you responsible for ensuring the safety of the population?” », Still tries the president?
– “Yes, absolutely, but as far as I can,” replies the ex-prefect, who has lived in France since 1997, after passing through the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and the Central African Republic.
He also denies having “requisitioned” trucks belonging to the State, used a few days before, to transport these same prisoners to the site of the massacre which occurred on April 21, 1994 in the neighboring town of Murambi, where approximately 20,000 Tutsi refugees had been gathered. For several days, they were responsible for burying the bodies in mass graves.
“The burial of the victims was an order from the mayor, each in his own commune,” said the accused, claiming to have been unaware of the directives at the national level concerning the burial of the corpses of victims.
For the prosecution, the executions in Gikongoro prison could only take place because the Hutu prisoners had returned from Murambi with weapons.
The trial is due to last until July 12.