First genocide prisoner freed
06/12/2006 22:29 - (SA)

Nairobi - The United Nations (UN) tribunal prosecuting Rwanda's 1994 genocide freed the first of its convicted prisoners on Wednesday, an 81-year-old pastor who served 10 years for luring Tutsis into a church for slaughter.

Former Seventh Day Adventist pastor Elizaphan Ntakirutimana was convicted for aiding and supporting genocide and held in a detention centre in Arusha, Tanzania.

The Arusha-based International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) gave him a 10-year sentence in 2003 for herding large groups of Tutsis into a church and hospital compound in western Rwanda and then calling Hutu extremists to kill them.

The tribunal took into account the time Ntakirutimana had spent in prison while awaiting trial, after he was arrested in Texas 10 years ago.

"Elizaphan Ntakirutimana ... was today released from prison at the end of his sentence," said ICTR.

Tribunal responsible for prosecuting leaders

"The accused becomes the first ICTR convict to be released after serving his sentence."

The tribunal is responsible for prosecuting leaders involved in the 100 days of bloodletting in which Hutu extremists carried out a planned genocide that killed 800 000 minority Tutsis and moderate Hutus.

It has convicted 26 people and acquitted five since its first trial in 1997.

It has indicted more than 80 people for genocide-related crimes since being set up in 1994. It has up to the end of 2008 to complete its trials - a deadline it is racing to beat - and until 2010 to hear appeals.

10 years seems like a pretty light sentence for planned genocide.

I've read a lot about these incidents. I've heard all the arguments about how these things were brought on by deep-seated tribalism. All that may be true. But there is no doubt in my mind that there was something wrong with the SDA Church in that part of Africa for years leading up to these terrible massacres. Why didn't the gospel and the sanctification by the Holy Spirit keep people from partaking in those horrible murders of their fellow SDAs? Is the message there the same as it is here? Does it go deep in the heart or is it just on the surface? What happened would seem to indicate that for many it was just a surface belief.

Not all denominations were involved. I know, for instance, that there were no Jehovah's Witnesses involved in killing or suspected of it or arrested for it. What made the difference? We need some real soul-searching by our people but especially by our leaders in those places.

Amen!

What a big black eye to God and the SDA church. I wonder how many other SDAs, leaders and laity, alike participated in it. It would be interesting also to know about the acts of courage & love some may have done to save those who were endangered.

Gerry

Danny had an Adventist missionary on 3ABN Today sometime back that was a missionary there during that time. He gave a powerful testimony and said that it was during that time, when he didn't know if he would live from one day to the next, that he grasp the doctrine of righteousness by faith and salvation by grace. His wife wasn't with him but he would call her every evening and when his calls came late he said his wife would not even let her mind start asking if he was still alive.

Yes, there were many killed trying to save people. It was just so sad and tragic. Of course many SDA did not take part, but based on what I've read and heard from people who were there, there was a significant number of SDA involved, even pastors and leaders.

I think one thing it shows is that we never know what we will do until we are put in a particular situation, so we really can't judge others. I'm sure those people never would have thought they would do those horrible things. But apparently they did them because of extreme pressure and fear of death.

I have often wondered what will I do when faced with the death decree? It would be so easy to rationalize and say something like, Well, God will forgive me if I just do this or that a little bit if He knows my heart is with Him. So I think we can learn from the experience of those in Africa who went through that.

His name is Carl Wilkens - he is the Milo Academy (Oregon) pastor now. He was the ONLY American to stay in Rwanda to try and protect the innocent during the genocide.

Whenever I have been tempted to commit a willful sin in the past, I would go to the bottomline and ask myself, "Is the pleasure/advantage I'm gaining now worth losing my eternal salvation?" Losing eternity for a few years gain is not a very good bargain!

Gerry