Italian police have arrested a 50-year-old Burundian man suspected of helping organize the 2014 killing of three elderly Italian missionary nuns in Burundi, prosecutors in Parma said Thursday, reopening a decade-old case that investigators say was tied to powerful security-service figures.
Guillaume Harushimana, who had lived near Parma for several years, was detained on suspicion of organizing and supporting the killings of Sisters Olga Raschietti, Lucia Pulici and Bernardetta Boggian during two attacks on their mission in Bujumbura on Sept. 7-8, 2014, judicial sources said.
Authorities allege Harushimana acted as an instigator and logistical co-organizer of the murders, carrying out reconnaissance, securing money for assailants and obtaining access to the residence, according to investigators.
Parma Chief Prosecutor Alfonso D’Avino told reporters the crime “arose within Burundi’s secret police; a climate of terror pervaded the investigation,” and identified former intelligence chief Gen. Adolphe Nshimirimana as the alleged instigator.
Investigators say two of the nuns were attacked first and killed, while the third, who had briefly left, was murdered later after returning to the residence. “Sister Bernardetta Boggian was beheaded,” D’Avino said, adding that the attackers hid inside the building and later fled disguised as police officers.
Harushimana, a farm worker, “made no admissions regarding the crimes,” D’Avino said.
Italian Carabinieri executed a precautionary detention order issued by a judge at the request of prosecutors, who say he faces charges of multiple aggravated homicide because of premeditation, the manner of killing and the victims’ ages.
The killings shocked Italy and the Catholic world at the time. The three Xaverian missionaries, all in their 70s or 80s, had spent years working with the sick and poor in Burundi and previously served in neighboring Congo.
The investigation unfolded in several phases after the 2014 attacks, with new leads emerging in 2024 that helped revive the case and produce evidence against the suspect, according to Italian authorities.
Prosecutors say they are continuing to examine possible motives, including claims the nuns had refused to cooperate with armed groups operating in Congo.
