In his home area of Murundi Sector, Karongi District, Habiyaremye became widely known for the sheer number of people he killed during the Genocide against the Tutsi. Gacaca court records show he took the lives of more than 300 Tutsis, many of them his neighbours, acquaintances, and even friends.
Today, he still lives in the same region. The once densely populated hills of Gasharu Cell, where many Tutsi families had lived, now bear only terraced slopes and forests.
"That area was home to many Tutsis," says Mukamatayo Anne Marie, President of Ibuka in Gasharu. "They were completely wiped out. Families like that of Mukakimenyi and Ntoyihuku vanished. No one from those homes is left."
The story of Habiyaremye resurfaced during a past commemoration of the Genocide against the Tutsi, when the Minister of National Unity and Civic Engagement, Dr. Jean Damascène Bizimana, cited him as an example of the scale of killings that occurred in the area.
"One striking case is in Nyamushishi Cell, Murundi Sector, where one man was found to have personally killed more people than any other individual identified through the Gacaca court system," Dr. Bizimana said.
"Habiyaremye Bernard, known as 'Kimashini', murdered more than 300 people by name. He even remembers some of them."
During the Genocide, Habiyaremye participated actively in killings. He recalls how it began:
'We were neighbours. One day, a man said to me, 'They killed my daughter. Now I have no one to avenge me.' That's when I started. His name was Tharcisse Nzabahimanaâ€"I killed him. After that, I continued. I felt like it would catch up with me if I didn't.'
Eventually, Habiyaremye was arrested and tried under the Gacaca court system. After serving his sentence, he returned to live in the same community he had once terrorised.
'Those I killed were close to meâ€"neighbours with whom we shared meals, worked together in the fields, and lived peacefully before the genocide,' he admits. 'Some were killed by others, but we had all lived together.'
Surprisingly, Habiyaremye says he was not rejected by his community upon return:
'I've never been turned away. I eat where others eat. I can't say I have enemies.'
On whether he feels remorse, he reflects: 'I wasn't myselfâ€"I was like a statue. No one with a heart could do what I did and claim to be a good person.'
He credits Rwanda's post-genocide education and reconciliation programmes for helping him and others like him to reflect, take responsibility, and rejoin the community.
'Unity and reconciliation have been powerful,' he says. 'If you look around Rwanda, it's clear the country has been rebuilt.'
Habiyaremye believes the fight against genocide ideology is everyone's duty: 'It still exists, but it can be identified and rooted out. That mindset must not find space in Rwanda.'
He says he now lives in peace with genocide survivorsâ€"some of whose relatives he killed:
'We live together, eat together, and talk. No one tells me to go away. I don't hide, and they don't avoid me.'
He also thanked President Paul Kagame for restoring national unity and said he now plays a role in building the same country he once helped tear apart.
IGIHE
