They were brutally tortured and murdered in September 2014 in Bujumbura, the capital of Burundi. After more than 11 years, the Carabinieri arrested a man in Parma, accused of organizing the triple murder of the three Italian Xaverian missionaries. At the end of a complex investigation , Guillaume Harushimana, 50, who had lived in the Parma area for some time as a farm worker, was arrested.
According to investigators, the crimes were carried out in the circles and on the orders of the Burundian secret police , in a climate of terror: the captured 50-year-old, who for years collaborated with the Parma Alimenta association, supported by various local bodies and active in solidarity projects in Africa, was also a close collaborator of General Adolf Nshimirimana, believed to be the instigator of the massacre .
Sister Olga Raschietti (83 years old) originally from Montecchio Maggiore (Vicenza), Sister Lucia Pulici (75) born in Desio (Monza Brizanza), Sister Bernardetta Boggian (79) from Ospedaletto Euganeo (Padua) , belonging to the congregation of the Missionaries of Mary Saverian, were murdered in their mission in the Kamenge district. The first two had their throats cut on the afternoon of 7 September 2014, while the third (who was away during the first crime) was beheaded the following night, the severed head placed next to the body.
All three victims' underwear was pulled down to their ankles. According to investigators, the arrested 50-year-old man conducted on-site inspections, retrieved the key to the nuns' home, and purchased altar boy smocks for the killers to wear to camouflage them in the mission. According to the Prosecutor's Office, the warrant was provided to the perpetrators by Nshimirimana, also through an intermediary (also from the secret police, but local), with the promise of a substantial sum of money. After killing the two nuns, despite the house being guarded by agents and missionaries, the perpetrators reportedly left and returned during the night, with the compound surrounded by law enforcement, wearing police uniforms (indicating the degree of collusion).
Guillaume Harushimana "did not belong to the Burundian secret services," explained prosecutor Alfonso D'Avino, "but was a friend of the head of the secret police and was the trusted man of the Xaverian Fathers who in Burundi, in the capital Bujumbura, had created a center that brought together young people of various ethnic groups ."
Three investigations: the first in 2014, quickly closed, and another in 2018. The Parma Public Prosecutor's Office took action after the presentation of the book "Nel cuore dei misteri" (In the Heart of Mysteries) by journalist Giusy Baioni, and an article in the Gazzetta di Parma led to the opening of a file.
Over the years, there has been no shortage of red herrings. And in the background, other possible motives emerge, such as the management of the significant funds from Italy to the Xaverian youth center and the ritual: General Nshimirimana allegedly requested a propitiatory rite as a good omen for his candidacy for President of the Republic. Months later, he was killed in a feud.
(Unioneonline)
