Supporters say Belgian priest held in Rwanda defended human rights

Published: 2005-10-24

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (CNS) -- A Belgian priest held in a Rwandan prison after being accused of complicity in Rwanda's 1994 genocide was a leading advocate for human rights in Africa, said colleagues in Rwanda, South Africa and Rome who continue to maintain the priest's innocence. The priest's superior in Rome, Missionaries of Africa Father Gerard Chabanon, called the charges against Father Guy Theunis "incomprehensible." In a statement, Father Chabanon said that, far from planning the genocide, Father Theunis repeatedly had warned of impending ethnic strife. Father Theunis, 60, worked in Rwanda from 1970 to 1994 and later in South Africa. He was arrested at the airport in the Rwandan capital, Kigali, Sept. 6 while in transit from the Democratic Republic of Congo. Five days later, he appeared before the Gacaca tribunal -- one of the traditional courts set up to prosecute the majority of genocide suspects. The court determined that Father Theunis was a category-one defendant, a description of alleged instigators of the genocide.

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