In a breakthrough after more than a decade, Italian authorities believe they have solved the 2014 murders of three Italian nuns at a convent in Bujumbura, Burundi. The victims, Lucia Pulici (75), Olga Raschietti (82), and Bernadetta Boggian (79), were brutally murdered in two separate attacks at their convent. Pulici and Raschietti were killed first, followed by Boggian, who had just returned from the airport. The nuns were subjected to violent acts, with two of them being raped and decapitated. Italian authorities have now arrested a suspect, Guillaume Harushimana, a Burundi native living in Parma, Italy.
Motive and Involvement of Burundi’s Secret Police
Prosecutors announced that the killings were orchestrated by General Adolphe Nshimirimana, the former head of Burundi’s secret police, who was assassinated in 2015. The murders, they said, were carried out within a climate of terror under the secret police’s influence. Harushimana, though not a member of the secret police, was described as a close associate of Nshimirimana and allegedly organized and supported the killings logistically. Prosecutors indicated that four other men were involved in the actual murders, with two of them confessing and one partially admitting to his role, while the fourth remains unidentified.
Investigation and Charges Against Harushimana
Harushimana was initially questioned in 2018, but he provided his passport, which appeared to show he was out of the country at the time of the murders. However, he has now been arrested and charged with multiple aggravated homicides. It remains unclear whether he has entered a plea, as of February 26, 2026. The three victims were part of the Xaverian Catholic order, and their tragic deaths have remained a point of investigation and grief for both Italian and Burundian authorities over the years.
