Rwanda’s veteran athlete Disi Dieudonné and his family have said that they received with shock news of a court case that was halted and filed pending further investigation while the suspect deceived them.
The case involves one Jean Baptiste Habineza, the executive secretary of Busoro sector who served in their sector of origin-Kibirizi sector before.
They accuse the leader of concealing information about the bodies of their relatives who were killed during the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi and find it “unfair that he is still working in a public institution.”
Sometimes in 2018, something unusual happened in Kibirizi Sector of Nyanza district, Southern Province when two siblings from the family of one Kaberuka Ephrem quarreled.
“I can kill you, throw you in that pit latrine of ours where you could join Disi’s children…,” a brother told his sister fiercely.
The sister reported the case while Genocide survivors from the family of their neighbor Disi Didace(RIP) was relentlessly searching the remains of their siblings Uwayezu Dany and Ufiteyezu Raymond.
Local leaders took the source from his word and started search of the bodies from the pit latrine.
Things happened the way the angry man had leaked the information. The search effort that was led by then executive secretary Jean Baptiste Habineza of Kibirizi found four bodies, including two of children.
After the search, the leader encouraged citizens to always share the whereabouts of Genocide victims.
Meanwhile, two members from Kaberuka’s family, including the son and the wife were arrested over genocide crimes.
The trial was set for May 2019, but survivors in the family of Disi Didace would be shocked by the testimony of the executive secretary during the hearing.
Contrary to what he had confirmed, that four bodies were found in a pit latrine, “he changed his mind and said, that only one body of an adult was found in the pit latrine,” according to reports from kigalitoday.com, our sister website.
Nyanza district security council had also confirmed reports that four bodies including two of children were found.
The court conducted a field visit to verify the information, only to find that indeed, there was one body of an adult person at Sector office where the bodies were kept pending further notice. Therefore, the court released the suspects in the case.
Unsatisfied Disi’s family continued to ask justice and one of them, Disi Dieudonnee escalated the matter to high ranking officials, including the Head of State.
The Bodies ‘brought back’
Following several petitions, the Rwanda Investigation Bureau(RIB) followed up the case, and in November 2019, they filed a report according to which they found remains of four bodies, including children, and some clothes of adult and young genocide victims at the sector office, contrary to the local leader’s claim of one body.
The day after, the executive secretary was arrested over concealing information about the bodies.
He was later on released on bail but resumed his same job after he was transferred in the neighboring Mukingo sector and later on Busoro sector where he is serving under the same capacity to date.
However, the Genocide suspects in the family of Kaberuka were re-arrested, incriminated and sentenced to life in jail by Huye Intermediate court in May 2020.
Provincial and district leaders kept asking the family of Disi to be patient as the case of the sector executive secretary was being handled at court until April 2021 when the bodies of their sons were finally accorded decent burial, but the leader continued to serve.
In an interview to kigalitoday.com, the spokesperson of Prosecution Faustin Nkusi this week said: “The family of Disi Didace can open a new court case without necessarily going through prosecution if they are not satisfied with the case being halted and filed.”
