Sentenced in absentia to life in prison by a Rwandan Military Court on 16 November 2006; ICTR-arrest warrant made public on 21 June 2007; arrested in France on 20 July 2007; arrested by French authorities on 5 September 2007; case referred by the ICTR to the French authorities on 20 November 2007; referral accepted on 20 February 2008
Wenceslas Munyeshyaka, a Rwandan citizen was former head of the Sainte-Famille parish in Kigali. Since 2001, he was a priest for the parishes of Gisors and the Epte Valley in France.
A legal enquiry was opened against Munyeshyaka in 1995 after a complaint was lodged, for “complicity in torture and inhumane or degrading treatment”. Witnesses gave account in precise detail of the massive executions which allegedly took place on the 17th and 22nd April 1994 in the Holy Family parish in Kigali where Munyeshyaka was officiating at the time.
In effect, between April and May 1994, Father Munyeshyaka is alleged to have contributed to the genocide being carried out against the Tutsi by the Hutu militias and members of the Rwandan armed forces. He is alleged to have repeatedly participated in the selection of Tutsi refugees to be murdered, to have left them to die of thirst, to have denounced to the authorities those who tried to help them and that he raped several women.
