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[1717] At a meeting called by Saïdi, three soldiers, including Pacifique, detained him,
and Jacques took the councillor’s seat. It was learned that Saïdi had been killed.
[1718] The witness knew DDM-42. He attended the burgomaster’s meetings and was a
member of the crisis committee, of which he was one of the leaders. He openly
opposed Jacques as councillor and called for Saïdi’s return.
[1719] The witness saw three corpses on the soccer field near the church. He noted that
they had been dead for some time. The Caterpillar power shovel that loaded the bodies
after the massacre at the church had not picked them up. They were eventually buried.
[1720] In June, around 7:30 p.m., soldiers from the Ngoma camp came to Mama
Amina’s house in order to attack her son-in-law.
[1721] Alerted by the public, the members of the crisis committee rushed to the site and
forced the soldiers to leave.
[1722] A number of other attacks took place. Not everyone shared the burgomaster’s
peace-loving sentiments. The witness was present when a commune employee, Maria
Gorette, and her daughter Laetitia were attacked. The attackers were led by Gatera,
accompanied by Édouard Nyagashi, Bizimungu, Niyamungu, Etienne Bijumba and
several others, including soldiers from the Ngoma camp.
[1723] The witness had known Désiré from childhood, but did not have any dealings
with him. Désiré’s parents were rich, while the witness’s parents were poor. He thought
he could identify him in the photo line-up. He had a scar on his face. The witness did not
see him during the war and did not know where he lived. He did not see him in Ngoma
at the time, and has not seen him since.
[1724] In the war, the Interahamwe changed from being the youth wing of the MRND to
being an organization of youth from all the parties. After April 20, the Interahamwe
constituted a group formed by Jacques Habimana and DDM-32 that included, in
particular, Gatera, Édouard Nyagashi, Innocent Ntuyubwatsi, RCW-7, Nsengiyaremye
Vincent, Nzajyibwami, Célestin (commanding the airfield), Blaise, Fils, Kamondo,
Nsabimana from 2nd Avenue and his brother Marico, a Ngoma commune police officer,
Bijumba Etienne, Nyandwi, Abdulilah and Dume.
[1725] The witness saw Shalom going by in town but he did not live there.
[1726] Asked by the attorney for the prosecution to admit that Rwandans are naturally
warm people, the witness responded that a Rwandan “never says what is in his soul”
when he is in front of you. He always lies. A Rwandan can never say what he feels in his
heart because he is afraid of other Rwandans. He can never tell his secret to others
because they may be spying on him, which is even more true of a Rwandan living
abroad.