(15 Jun 2000) French/Italian/Nat
A Rwandan court has cleared a Roman Catholic bishop of charges that he helped carry out the 1994 massacres of more than 500,000 Rwandans.
Augustin Misago had been accused of participating in meetings during which Rwanda's former extremist Hutu government discussed plans to kill minority Tutsis.
But the "Specialised Chamber of the First Instance Court" in Kigali said the prosecution had failed to prove that he had participated in any such meetings.
Augustin Misago was bishop of the southern Rwandan diocese of Gikongoro.
He'd been accused of participating in meetings during which Rwanda's former extremist Hutu government discussed plans to kill minority Tutsis.
Tens of thousands died at the hands of Hutu soldiers, militiamen and ordinary civilians during the 100-day genocide.
Many victims were killed in churches and with the suspected complicity of priests and nuns.
The slaughter ended when Tutsi-led rebels drove the government and army from power.
Misago was specifically accused of ordering the killings of three Tutsi priests and schoolchildren who had sought his protection.
This was part of the seven genocide charges the court dismissed one by one in the 90-minute ruling.
In closing arguments last month, defence attorneys said Misago had no choice but to attend the security meetings where the killings were discussed.
They said that if he'd refused to go, he would've been killed himself.
Misago had denied any responsibility for the massacres.
He says he was wrongly arrested on orders of former President Pasteur Bizimungu.
If convicted, Misago had faced a mandatory death sentence.
Walking free, he said the verdict had been fair.
SOUNDBITE: (French)
"I'm happy that truth and justice has been served."
SUPER CAPTION: Augustin Misago, Former bishop of the southern Rwandan diocese of Gikongoro
It's been a highly publicised trial that's strained Rwanda's relations with the Vatican.
Misago is the ranking Roman Catholic cleric among more than 20 nuns and priests accused of participating in the genocide.
Two priests have already been convicted and sentenced to death.
SOUNDBITE: (Italian)
"My tears express the result of this trial which I followed since the beginning and with great satisfaction we now know that he is freed. "
SUPER CAPTION: Papal Nuncio Salvatore Pennachio, Vatican envoy to Rwanda
Friends hugged Misago on the doorstep of the tribunal as he limped to the car on a metal crutch.
But outside the courtroom crammed with hundreds of spectators, Rwandans reacted to the decision with mixed feelings.
SOUNDBITE: (Timyarwanda - local language)
"If you listen to the witnesses- then the judges did not take a fair witness."
SUPER CAPTION: Willy Byilingiro, (Resident who followed trial)
More than 125,000 genocide suspects are jailed in Rwanda.
More than 1,500 have been tried so far.
Three hundred have been sentenced to death.
The first 22 were publicly executed on April 24, 1998.
The main architects of the genocide, most of whom fled Rwanda when the rebels seized power, are being tried by a U-N tribunal in the northern Tanzanian town of Arusha.
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