Misago was freed on Thursday, June 15, 2000 from the hell of the Rwandan
prisons. He was acquitted of all charges by a Rwandan Tribunal. These
charges were found to be a cocktail of lies, false accusations, personal
attacks, calomnies, and baseless fabrications.
The Organization of Peace, Justice, and Development (OPJDR) takes this opportunity to welcome both the verdict and Bishop Misago among his followers and his parish. As underlined in its multiple previous statements, the OPJDR and its members have always believed in the innocence of Bishop Misago.
Pope John-Paul II and the Catholic clergy have openly supported Bishop Misago. This support, along with the political environment and internal contradictions in the Rwandan Patriotic Front government helped to free an innocent man.
The Catholic Church, through the Pope and its clergy spoke for Bishop Misago, against the Rwandan Patriotic Front Government's injustice. The OPJDR hopes that the Catholic Church and now the free Bishop Misago will speak on the behalf of hundreds thousands of other Rwandan prisoners left behind. Those left behind include, not only the hundreds of thousands of prisoners, but also millions of people kept in concentration camps across Nortwestern Rwanda.
Misago is an accidental survivor of the brutal massacres of catholic Bishops, priests and nuns by the Rwandan Patriotic Army. Since the invasion of Rwanda in 1990, the Rwandan Patriotic Army has massacred hundreds of members of the catholic clergy. AfroAmerica Network (www.afroamerica.net), an independent news agency based in the United States of America, in their June 10, 1999 edition compiled the following list of bishops and foreign priests massacred by the Rwandan Patriotic Army in just 4 years. The extended list with names of nuns and priests killed during the same period includes hundreds of names:
His Eminence Vincent Nsengiyumva, Archbishop of Kigali, killed by the Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA) , in Gakurazo on June 5, 1994.
His Eminence Joseph Ruzindana, Bishop of Byumba, killed by the Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA), in Gakurazo on June 5, 1994.
His Eminence Innocent Gasabwoya, Vicar-General of Kabgayi, killed by the Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA) , in Gakurazo on June 5, 1994.
His Eminence Thaddee Nsengiyumva, Bishop of Kabgayi, killed by the Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA) on June 5, 1994.
His Eminence Phocas Nikwigize, Bishop of Ruhengeri, killed by the Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA) on November 30, 1996 in Goma, the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
His Eminence Jean Marie Rwabirinda, Vicar-General of Kabgayi, killed by the Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA), in Gakurazo on June 5, 1994.
His Eminence Andre Sibomana, Acting Bishop of Kabgayi, mysteriously killed (apparently by the RPA secret services) in Kabgayi on March 9, 1998.
Chaplain Antoine Hategekimana, killed in Bukavu in November 1996, by the Rwandan Patriotic Army, along with His Eminence Christopher Munzihirwa-Mwene-Ngabo, Archbishop of Bukavu, the Democratic Republic of the Congo..
Chaplain Fidel Gahonzire, Chaplain of the Kabgayi Hospital, Killed by the Rwandan Patriotic Army in Gakurazo on June 5, 1994.
Father Guy Pinard, a Canadian, killed by the Rwandan Patriotic Army in February 1997, while conducting a Mass.
His Eminence Boniface Kagabo, acting bishop of Ruhengeri, killed by the Rwandan Patriotic Army on May 26, 1998.
Father Vjeco Curic, a Friar priest from Croatia, mysteriously killed by his passenger (apparently from the RPA secret services) in front of the Holy Family Church of Kigali on January 31, 1998.
Hundreds of thousands of people are held in truck containers, disused factories, old bathrooms, wet or leaking dungeons, or anywhere things can be confined. Prisoners are regularly tortured. Thousands have lost limbs, developed skin diseases, or caught recurrent or terminal illnesses. Young people have been forcefully taken from prisons to battle fronts in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to serve as canon fodder.
Misago was just released from these prisons. He left behind more than 150 thousands of men, women and children. Most of them are as innocent as Bishop Misago. The crime by most of them is to be from the ethnic hutus. Few of them will ever have their day in court.
Hence, the Organization for Peace, Justice, and Development in Rwanda calls on the Catholic Church and now free Bishop Misago, along with the international community to speak on the behalf of these thousands of prisoners and millions of people in concentration camps across Nortwestern Rwanda.
Felicien Kanyamibwa, PhD
Coordinator
Organization for Peace, Justice, and Development in Rwanda
OPJDR
P.O. Box 8011
Talleyville, DE 19803
e-mail: kanyami@ibm.net