Transforming Church

The story goes back to March 7, 2000 when the Society, a partner organization to the J.R.M.D., refused to honor its financial commitments to finance the construction of 700 homes in Nyabaranda (Kanyosha) while it had promised to make available funds that were already committed to the construction of 253 homes in January of 1999. In February 1999, the Society asked J.R.M.D. to borrow the construction materials directly from suppliers and promised to transfer the needed funds for reimbursement the following week. In August 1999, J.R.M.D was informed that the Society’s commitments would no longer be honored.

This placed J.R.M.D., and its General Coordinator in particular, in a difficult position given that he was dragged through the mud and treated like a crook until he ended up behind bars.

In February 2001, Mr. Ndabishuriye brought a lawsuit before the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, Western Division at Dayton, against The Albert Schweitzer Society. The case went to trial in April 2003 where Mr. Ndabishuriye was represented by five attorneys who were found for him by an organization called the International Justice Mission through Reverend Docteur Rouner. He thanked Hogan & Hartson, LLP, and in particular Mr. Andrew Rowell and Ms. Lynne Baum as well as the U.S. Ambassador to Burundi for their intervention in his case.

The verdict was rendered on November 7, 2003 in favor of Mr. Ndabishuriye. The Society, represented by Harold Fetter, appealed to the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals which upheld the lower court’s ruling.

Mr. Ndabishuriye said that he believes strongly in equal justice in the United States to the extent that a Burundian citizen was correctly understood and won the case on American soil. He expressed his wish that the Court, having given its judgment, can now proceed to its execution without further delay.