At UN tribunal, former Rwandan priest pleads not guilty to war crimes

A former Catholic priest accused of participating in the Rwandan genocide pleaded not guilty today to all four charges brought against him by the United Nations war crimes tribunal in Arusha, Tanzania.

Father Athanase Seromba, former priest at Nyange parish in Rwanda's western Kibuye prefecture, pleaded not guilty to charges of genocide, complicity in genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide and crimes against humanity for extermination.

Earlier this week, he was arrested by the Tanzanian authorities immediately after his arrival from Italy, where he had been living in exile, and handed over to the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). He is the fourth clergyman to be detained by the Arusha-based Tribunal.

A date for Father Seromba's trial has not yet been set.