PASTOR NTAKIRUTIMANA TRANSFERRED TO THE TRIBUNAL’S CUSTODY

ICTR/INFO-9-2-225 

Mar 25, 2000

Elizaphan Ntakirutimana, former pastor of the Seventh Day Adventist Church in Mugonero, Kibuye Prefecture, who had been arrested in United States on a basis of a warrant issued by the International Criminal for Rwanda (ICTR) was transferred to the United Nations Detention Facility (UNDF) in Arusha yesterday.

After more than three years of legal procedures the American Secretary of State, Ms Madeleine Albright signed the decision authorising Ntakirutimana’s transfer earlier this month. In January the United States Supreme Court had refused certiorari in an appeal lodged by Ntakirutimana against the extradition warrant issued by a Court in Texas. That refusal put an end to the legal procedures before the American Courts.

Elizaphan Ntakirutimana was born in 1924 in Ngoma sector, Gishyita Commune, Kibuye Prefecture. He is charged on the basis of two indictments, which refer to facts alleged to have occurred in Mugonero and at Bisesero. The charges against him include genocide, complicity in genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide, crimes against humanity and breaches of the Geneva Conventions.

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Seventh-Day Adventists and abortion

Christians of all denominations are gathering on the National Mall today to protest the 38th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion nationwide. But one denomination that may be sparsely represented is Seventh-day Adventists whose large worldwide network of 170 hospitals allows elective abortions.

This stance was revealed last week when Maryland state regulators gave Holy Cross Hospital, a Catholic institution, permission to build a hospital in growing northern Montgomery County, shutting out the Seventh-day Adventists, who also wanted to build a hospital in the area. Some abortion rights advocates opposed Holy Cross's selection because it does not allow abortions.

Adventists resemble many conservative Protestant denominations as they believe in divinely inspired Scripture, six literal days of Creation, justification by faith and baptism by immersion.

Their distinctive rites include worshiping on Saturday, the seventh day of the week as opposed to Sunday, an emphasis on the Second Coming of Christ and an emphasis on following Jewish dietary laws concerning abstinence from pork, shellfish and other foods proscribed as "unclean" in the Old Testament. The denomination is known for its emphasis on health. Alcohol and tobacco are prohibited and many Adventists are vegetarians.

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TESTEMUNHOS: DESPERTANDO DE UM "PESADELO ESPIRITUAL"

Meu nome é Eliézer Rien, nasci já nos átrios da IASD, sou a terceira geração de adventistas. Quero começar pelo dia do meu “batismo”...

Fui “batizado” com 11 anos de idade, em um “batismo de primavera” tão famoso no meio adventista. Aquele ano parece-me, que não foi um bom ano para as metas batismais dos pastores, pelo menos não para o pastor da minha igreja local. A igreja que eu freqüentava é até hoje uma das maiores igrejas adventistas da cidade de Porto Alegre, muitos membros, igreja grande. Lembro-me do pastor umas semanas antes do tal batismo percorrer as salas de “escola sabatina” a fim de angariar crianças para batizarem-se. Eu de minha parte atendi parcialmente ao chamado aceitando seu apelo na “escolinha”. Entretanto para mim, aquilo tinha ficado por isso mesmo. Mas alguns dias depois meus pais me perguntaram se eu gostaria de me batizar, creio que alguém, provavelmente o pastor, havia ido conversar com eles a respeito do meu batismo.

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