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Former Roman Catholic priest Athanase Seromba was detained at the United Nations Detention Facility in Arusha, Tanzania, on Wednesday following after his surrender to the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, the UN body reported.
"The accused will shortly appear before a judge of the tribunal to answer charges brought against him," it added.
He is charged with four counts of genocide or, in the alternative, complicity to commit genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide and crimes against humanity for extermination. The tribunal issued an arrest warrant for Seromba on 4 July 2001, after he was indicted for crimes of genocide allegedly committed in Rwanda in 1994, the tribunal said.
His is also charged with responsible for killing or causing serious bodily or mental harm to thousands of members of the Tutsi population in Kivumu Commune, Kibuye Prefecture, who had sought refuge at the Nyange parish, the tribunal said. These included about 2,000 Tutsis trapped inside the Nyange church, who were killed when he allegedly bulldozed the church, causing its roof to collapse.
Tanzanian authorities arrested Seromba immediately after his arrival from Italy, where he had been living in exile. Seromba, a former priest at Nyange parish, Kibuye Prefecture, western Rwanda, is the fourth clergyman the tribunal has detained.
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
