Pastor Charged With Ordering Slaughter

Sat., Sept. 28, 1996

Compiled From Wire Services

A Rwandan pastor was charged Friday with ordering the slaughter of hundreds of men, women and children he had duped into coming to his church to seek shelter from the African nation’s ethnic turmoil.

Elizaphan Ntakirutimana, 73, who was sought by a United Nations tribunal on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity, had been under FBI surveillance for months in this dusty border town, where he has relatives.

But authorities did not authorize an arrest until Thursday, when he attempted to leave.

The tribunal alleges that Ntakirutimana arranged for hundreds of Tutsis in Rwanda’s Kibuye district to seek refuge at his church.

Then, after throngs of men, women and children crowded in for safety, Ntakirutimana arrived with a truckload of armed men and directed them to start killing, the tribunal contends.

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Pastor Charged With Ordering Slaughter

Jesse Tinsley

Jim Meehan

Molly Quinn

Rob Curley

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