KIGALI (CWNews.com/Fides)

    On Thursday, a Kigali court will issue its verdict regarding Bishop Augustin Misago of Gikongoro, arrested in April 1999 for complicity in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. If found guilty, the bishop risks the death penalty.

    According to one of the few people allowed to visit the bishop "is awaiting the verdict with calm and in prayer." He added, "Today, like every morning, he celebrated Mass in front of the tiny tabernacle set up in his prison quarters, separated from the other eight thousand penitentiary inmates only by a small curtain."

    The bishop's health has improved slightly although his heart problem has been exacerbated by his detention. "In the last few days, the bishop asked to receive fewer visitors so as to have more time for prayer," the source said.

    Bishop Misago's attorney has said evidence against his client is non-existent, comprised of only indirect testimony and artificial suppositions. One of the few direct testimonies was in his favor: Jerome Rugema, 20, whom the prosecutor said was one of a group of boys murdered because the bishop failed to protect them, whereas the boy said he owed his life to Bishop Misago's intervention. Another witness said he had been threatened with violence if he spoke in the bishop's defense.

    On March 20, during the final hearing, the prosecution exhibited only three documents, including a videotape showing the bishop talking with journalists. The plaintiff produced nine documents including newspaper articles attacking the bishop and the Church. The defense produced eighteen documents showing that Bishop Misago tried to prevent ethnic clashes. The papers included a declaration by Cardinal Roger Etchegaray, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace.

We encourage you to check the Catholic World News site at the CWN home page and Church News at Noticias Eclesiales and the Dossiers, features and Daily Dispatches from ZENIT International News Agency CWN, NE and ZENIT are not affiliated with the Daily CATHOLIC, but provide this service via e-mail to the Daily CATHOLIC Monday through Friday.