In Huye District, April 22 to May 6, 1994, will go down in history as one of the most painful periods during the Genocide against the Tutsi.

 

During this time, more than 10,000 Tutsi who had taken refuge in various houses of the Sovu Monastery were killed. Sister Gertrude (Consolata Mukangango) and Sister Kizito (Julienne Mukabutera) who were responsible for these killings, are now roaming freely in Belgium.

 

Tutsi refugees at Sovu were attacked three times. By April 17, 1994, more than 10,000 Tutsi had sought refuge in the monastery’s rooms, health center, and garage. The first massacre that saw the death of more than 7,000 Tutsi was on April 22.

 

On that day, the Interahamwe first attacked those who had taken refuge at the health center and they fled into its garage. Once there, they decided to burn them alive in the garage with two jerrycans of fuel brought to them by the two sisters. Afterwards, the sisters got their list and checked if all of them were dead.

 

On April 25, 1994, the leader of Interahamwe from Sovu returned to kill the remaining Tutsi who were hiding inside the Monastery. This was done on the orders of Sister Gertrude and Sister Kizito, because she told them to get rid of the refugees as they no longer had food for them.

 

The refugees’ pleas fell on the sisters’ deaf ears. At least 1,000 Tutsi died that day.

 

A few days later, on May 5, 1994, Sister Gertrude wrote a letter to the Bourgmestre of Huye Commune, Jonathan Ruremesha, urging him to come and expel the refugees because they did not have enough resources to support them and wanted to continue the Monastery’s work ‘without disturbance. The next day, on May 6, 1994, Ruremesha brought police officers and Interahamwe to kill the more than 30 remaining refugees, who were the relatives of her fellow sisters.

 

These ‘women of God’ collaborated with local genocidal leaders, provided the gasoline used to burn hundreds of Tutsi alive, drove over the bodies of the dying, and cast out refugees who had been hiding in the monastery, well knowing that these people would be slaughtered.

 

The sisters fled to then Zaire (now DRC) in July 1994, knowing that the RPF had advanced. They later went to the Central African Republic (CAR), and finally, to Belgium, where they were hosted in the Benedictine Sisters Order Monastery.

 

They lived quietly and freely in Belgium until Belgian media published the revelations of the crimes they committed during the 1994 Genocide in Rwanda.

 

With the unconditional support of Belgium's Benedictine Sisters Order, Sister Gertrude calmly denied all the accusations, branding her accusers as “traumatized” and “liars”.

 

In June 2001, the nuns were convicted for war crimes and genocide by a Brussels court. Mukangango was sentenced to 15 years and Mukabutera 12 years, for their crimes.

 

They served only seven years of their sentence.

 

 Upon release, Sister Gertrude returned to the Benedictine Monastery at Maredret. In 2018, with the support of French journalist, Jerome Castaldi, she wrote a book: “Rwanda 1994. La parole de Soeur Gertrude.”

 

The book demeans the history of the Genocide against the Tutsi, criticizes the justice system and strongly targets genocide survivors who exposed her involvement in the Genocide at Sovu, including her fellow Sisters of Sovu Monastery who also testified against her.

 

In her book, she alleges that she was convicted for her cowardice, and not for the killings, saying that she did not help the Tutsi that sought refuge in her Monastery, to avoid being killed themselves.

 

The fact that, despite their crimes, the nuns were welcomed back by the Roman Catholic Church with their long white robes and given back their tittles and Sister Gertrude is now the mother superior of the Benedictine Monastery at Maredret, is a story for another day.

 

With the support of the church, the monastery led by Sister Gertrude, ventured into the beer-brewing business. By 2021, the brewery produced 300,000 bottles of "Maredret" beer.

 

Sold at $9 a bottle all over Belgium, and exported to Italy and Spain, the beer generates an annual income of around $3 million.

 

Sister Gertrude wants to boost her production to three million bottles a year, which could potentially lead to a profit of more than $30 million.

 

The project is supported by many fellow Catholics. And Sister Gertrude is given countless platforms in the media such as BBC, and VOA, among others, to advertise her beer.

 

In September, the BBC featured her in a ‘church and beer’ podcast, giving her space to talk about her business. The podcast was deleted soon after its publication, but the damage had been done. No apology was issued by BBC.

 

The fact that such media houses knowingly give a platform to genocidaires and genocide deniers and supports them in making millions of dollars while the hearts of their victims are still bleeding is tormenting enough. It also speaks volumes.