FRIDAY, 5.00PM:
THOUSANDS of Rwandans gathered in the capital Kigali to witness the execution of four people convicted of inciting acts of genocide in the 1994 massacre of almost a million Tutsis. Another 18 prisoners were executed by firing squad in four other outlying towns.
Preparations for the executions of three men and one women — wearing a pink prisoners’ uniform — took 15 minutes as the prisoners were tied to stakes at the execution site. Their heads were covered with black hoods and black target squares attached to their chests.
Police firing squads then fired several bullets at each prisoner in turn, moving from left to right, from less than a meter away.
Rwandan leaders decided to go ahead with the executions after dismissing last-minute pleas for clemency, including an appeal from Pope John Paul II.
BBC East Africa Correspondent Cathy Jenkins said, in marked contrast to the international outcry, that the onlookers, most genocide survivors, said they have waited a long time to see justice being done, and it is hard to find anybody who does not believe the executions should go ahead. As the shots rang out, Jenkins said, some shouted: “That is the end.”
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