Nun gets 30 years for genocide

Kigali - A local Rwandan traditional court sentenced a Catholic nun to 30 years in prison for helping militiamen kill hundreds of Tutsis hiding in a hospital during the country's 1994 genocide, said an official on Friday.

Theophister Mukakibibi was sentenced by the traditional gacaca courts on Thursday for working closely with Hutu militiamen to kill Tutsis hiding in Butare Hospital, where she worked. She was also accused of dumping a baby in a latrine.

Jean Baptiste Ndahumba, president of the local gacaca court in Butare town, said: "She would select Tutsis and throw them out of the hospital for the militia to kill. She did not even spare pregnant mothers."

Focusing on confession and apology, the traditional gacaca courts had been used in Rwanda to ease the backlog of genocide cases. They were also intended to ease the way to national reconciliation.

Mukakibibi 'first nun to be sentenced'

Under gacaca, those who confessed and plead guilty before a set date would have their sentences reduced. Those sentenced to prison would serve their time in a Rwandan jail.

Mukakibibi was the first nun to be sentenced by a Rwandan court for her role in the genocide. A Belgian court convicted two Roman Catholic nuns in 2001 for aiding in the mass murder.

More than 20 witnesses testified against Mukakibibi during the trial, which lasted for one year. Ndahumba said: "She used to hold meetings with militiamen and had an army officer as her escort during the killings."

As the official in charge of stock in the hospital, she was also accused of denying food to Tutsis hiding at the hospital.

The Rwandan Roman Catholic Church was accused of playing a significant role in the 100-day genocide, in which an estimated 800 000 people were killed.

A Roman Catholic priest was on trial before a Tanzania-based United Nations tribunal, accused of ordering the slaughter of 2 000 people who sought refuge in his church.

In July 2005, the head of the Roman Catholic Church appeared before a similar court to give information on what he knew about the genocide.

Archbishop Thaddee Ntihinyurwa, a Hutu, was summoned to the local gacaca courts after dozens of survivors accused him of taking part in several meetings that were allegedly planning the slaughter of ethnic Tutsi in the southern Cyagungu province.