Burundi : triple murder of Italian nuns, 11years of silence and mystery

SOS Médias Burundi

Bujumbura, September 11, 2025 – Eleven years after the cowardly murder of three sisters from the Xaverian missionary community, originally from Italy, the Burundian justice system has still not identified or brought to justice the perpetrators of this heinous crime. The nuns, Sister Olga Raschietti (83 years old), Sister Lucia Pulici (75 years old), and Sister Bernadetta Boggian (79 years old), were brutally killed in the Maria Conforti parish of Kamenge, north of Burundi’s commercial capital, on the night of September 7-8, 2014.

On September 7, 2014, the first two nuns, Sister Olga Raschietti and Sister Lucia Pulici, were found raped and murdered on Sunday afternoon : one had her throat slit and the other had been stoned. The next morning, Sister Bernadetta Boggian was found decapitated in her room, the only one left open. These circumstances shocked the international community and deeply moved the Burundian people.

While the bodies of the first two victims were being transported to Roi Khaled Hospital in Kamenge, a reporter from SOS Médias Burundi noted that the parish remained guarded by soldiers and police officers stationed around the compound. This protection, while present, did not prevent the murder of the third nun. According to sources contacted by SOS Médias Burundi, the suspect arrested at the time was a young man known in the Kamenge area, suffering from a mental illness, and remains interned in a psychiatric center.

Three nuns serving others

Sister Lucia Pulici, Sister Olga Raschietti, and Sister Bernadetta Boggian were unanimously recognized for their commitment to the poorest, their dedication to the education of young people, and their involvement in local pastoral work. Their lives, marked by service and altruism, contrast tragically with the brutality of their deaths.

An urgent call for justice

During a memorial mass celebrated on September 8, 2025, Father Philbert Ntahimpera, parish priest of Maria Conforti Parish, called on the judicial authorities to shed light on this triple murder :

“Justice and truth are essential conditions for peace and forgiveness. It is imperative that the truth about this assassination finally be known and that the perpetrators of this crime be identified and arrested.”

The parish priest emphasized that, far from seeking revenge, the Church continues to pray for the criminals so that they may repent and convert, emphasizing that only justice will bring true closure to the faithful and the victims’ loved ones.

Eleven years of waiting

Eleven years after the tragedy, promises of an investigation and calls for transparency remain unheeded. The slow pace of investigations, sometimes perceived as a lack of political will, fuels the concern and bitterness of the local and international communities attached to these nuns.

This assassination remains a tragic symbol of the tensions that gripped Burundi at the time, and serves as a reminder that the quest for truth and justice remains an essential condition for reconciliation and lasting peace in the country.