A woman who lost nearly all her family in the Rwandan genocide has herself been murdered, a local villager told AFP Monday, in what is the latest of several killings of survivors of the 1994 slaughter.
Jozefina Zaninka, 75, was beaten to death overnight Friday in the Muhanga district in the south of the country, Radio Rwanda, the official government broadcaster reported.
"Her body was found Saturday morning in her stable by a young man who had come, as usual, to milk the cows for her," Benoit Kaboyi, executive secretary of Ibuka, the main organisation for the genocide survivors, told AFP.
"We buried her yesterday (Sunday) after the autopsy and some suspects have already been arrested by the police," he added.
Zaninka had been claiming compensation before one of the semi-traditional courts, known as gacacas, for the pillaging of and damage to her possessions during the genocide.
Her murder might have been linked to the court action she initiated, Kaboyi added. Zaninka, who lived alone, had lost nearly all her family, in 1994.
According to Ibuka, 167 survivors of the genocide have been murdered between 1995 and mid-May 2008.
Murders of survivors of the genocide are frequent in the region, Radio Rwanda reported: in May, a survivor in her 90s was burned alive by villagers.
The gacacas are grass-roots courts inspired by the old village assemblies.
They have tried most of those suspected of carrying out the 1994 genocide, in which Hutus targetted the country's Tutsi population, but also moderate Hutus. According to United Nations figures, nearly 800,000 were killed in the violence.
Jozefina Zaninka, 75, was beaten to death overnight Friday in the Muhanga district in the south of the country, Radio Rwanda, the official government broadcaster reported.
"Her body was found Saturday morning in her stable by a young man who had come, as usual, to milk the cows for her," Benoit Kaboyi, executive secretary of Ibuka, the main organisation for the genocide survivors, told AFP.
"We buried her yesterday (Sunday) after the autopsy and some suspects have already been arrested by the police," he added.
Zaninka had been claiming compensation before one of the semi-traditional courts, known as gacacas, for the pillaging of and damage to her possessions during the genocide.
Her murder might have been linked to the court action she initiated, Kaboyi added. Zaninka, who lived alone, had lost nearly all her family, in 1994.
According to Ibuka, 167 survivors of the genocide have been murdered between 1995 and mid-May 2008.
Murders of survivors of the genocide are frequent in the region, Radio Rwanda reported: in May, a survivor in her 90s was burned alive by villagers.
The gacacas are grass-roots courts inspired by the old village assemblies.
They have tried most of those suspected of carrying out the 1994 genocide, in which Hutus targetted the country's Tutsi population, but also moderate Hutus. According to United Nations figures, nearly 800,000 were killed in the violence.
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