Rwandan Priest Arrested in France for Alleged Role in Genocide
Voice of America
PARIS - A Rwandan priest was arrested in France this week on charges of providing, among other things, food to militiamen who massacred members of the Tutsi minority in his church during the 1994 genocide in the African country, authorities said Friday.
Marcel Hitayezu, who was born in 1956, was charged on Wednesday with genocide and being an accomplice to crimes against humanity, according to the national anti-terrorism prosecutor's office. He was arrested the same day at his home in Montlieu-la-Garde, southwestern France, a source close to the case said. Prosecutors said Hitayezu was the priest at a church in Mubuga, in southern Rwanda, when the genocide took place and in April 1994 withheld food and water to Tutsis who had sought refuge in his church. He instead gave food to extremist Interahamwe militiamen who attacked the refugees, prosecutors added.
Palestinians check the rubble of a building in the aftermath of an Israeli strike south of Gaza City on Nov. 22, 2024.
In this photo provided by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un delivers a speech during an opening ceremony of a defense exhibition in Pyongyang, North Korea, Nov. 21, 2024.
FILE - Activists participate in a demonstration against fossil fuels at the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, in Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 16, 2024. FILE - Pipes are stacked up to be used for the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline project in Durres, Albania, April 18, 2016, to transport gas from the Shah Deniz II field in Azerbaijan, across Turkey, Greece, Albania and undersea into southern Italy.
International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Grossi arrives on the opening day of the agency's quarterly Board of Governors meeting at the IAEA headquarters in Vienna, Nov. 20, 2024.
FILE - Estonia's Kaja Kallas, nominee for European Union High Representative and Vice President for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, speaks during her hearing at the European Parliament in Brussels on Nov. 12, 2024.
Serbian police scuffle with opposition protesters demanding arrests in connection with a deadly roof collapse at a railway station in Novi Sad, Serbia, Nov. 21, 2024.
FILE - Pham Chi Dung appears at his trial in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, on Jan. 5, 2021. (Photo: Nguoi Lao Dong)
People wait to vote in legislative elections in Dakar, Senegal, Nov. 17, 2024. The ruling party, PASTEF, won a solid victory, taking 130 of 165 seats, according to provisional results announced Nov. 21.
FILE - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant attend a ceremony for the 70th cohort of military combat officers, at an army base near Mitzpe Ramon, Oct. 31, 2024.
Defense ministers Lloyd Austin of the U.S., Pat Conroy of Australia, Gen Nakatani of Japan, Gilberto C. Teodoro Jr. of the Philippines and Kim Yong Hyun of South Korea pose during an ASEAN meeting in Vientiane, Laos, Nov. 21, 2024. (South Korean Defense Ministry via AP)