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RWANDA
Acquitted bishop meets Pope
Pledges return to diocese
Bishop Augustin Misago, who spent a year in a Rwandan prison before being acquitted on war-crimes charges, met privately with Pope John Paul II on September 8, prior to returning to his Gikongoro diocese.
Bishop Misago, who was found innocent of all charges in June after a lengthy trial, had said that he hoped to visit the Holy Father before returning to his pastoral assignment. He had spent three months in Europe undergoing medical treatment after his release.
The Rwandan bishop said that he wanted to brief the Pope personally about the situation in his country, where charges and counter-charges are still circulating over the massive ethnic slaughter that took place in 1994. He also wanted to thank the Pope for the support he had received from the Holy See during his imprisonment and trial.
Bishop Misago had been arrested on April 14, 1999, shortly after being denounced by the president of Rwanda. But prosecutors failed to provide any substantial evidence that he was involved in the ethnic killing, and in fact his defense team introduced several witnesses who testified that the bishop had done his best to cool ethnic tensions and prevent violence.
Nevertheless, the Rwandan government continued the prosecution, forcing several delays in the trial as they tried to find more evidence, and in May 2000 announced that they would seek the death sentence for Bishop Misago. At that point, the Pope sent a personal telegram to the imprisoned bishop, expressing his solidarity and saying—as the Holy See had previously said—that the prosecution appeared to be an effort by the government to make the Catholic Church a scapegoat for the 1994 massacres.
Throughout the trial the bishop was confined in prison. The government of Rwanda has left thousands of people in jails, awaiting trial on war-related charges, for months at a time. The ordeal of Bishop Misago finally ended on June 15 when the Rwandan court found him innocent and ordered his immediate release.
“In returning to my country I will be running some risks,” Bishop Misago has confided to the Fides news agency. “New difficulties are waiting for me. But I am ready to accept them.”
“The arrest, the imprisonment for a year, and the request for a death sentence showed the drive to eliminate me,” the bishop continued. “Many of my friends here in Europe have told me not to go back to Rwanda, because it would be too dangerous. But I feel that I have to go back.”
Bishop Misago explained his determination: “I didn’t run away when I was first accused; why should I run away now, after my innocence has been established? If I don’t go back, some people will begin to doubt my innocence again.”
Bishop Misago was expected to return to Rwanda in September.
Back to Catholic World Report October 2000 Table of Contents