Priest denies Rwanda genocide charge

ARUSHA, Tanzania -- A Roman Catholic priest has pleaded innocent to charges of genocide and crimes against humanity at a U.N. tribunal.

Rev Athanase Seromba, a Rwandan priest in the Archdiocese of Florence, Italy, since 1997, appeared before the tribunal on Friday.

He arrived at the detention centre in Arusha, Tanzania, on Wednesday after surrendering to the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.

Seromba, 37, a member of Rwanda's Hutu majority, is alleged to have ordered the Hutu-extremist militia, known as Interahamwe, to kill thousands of Tutsis in his parish church in Nyange, Rwanda.

The victims had taken refuge from attackers during the 1994 genocide in the central African nation.

It is alleged that the church was then bulldozed, on Seromba's orders, causing its roof to collapse, killing more than 2,000 Tutsis inside.

The charge against Seromba state: "The Interahamwe and the militia attacked with traditional arms and poured fuel through the roof of the church, while gendarmes and communal police launched grenades and killed the refugees."

More than 500,000 Tutsis and politically moderate Hutus were killed in the 100-day slaughter organized by the then Hutu-extremist government.

The tribunal statement did not say when Seromba would be next appearing in court.