Rwanda launches phase of genocide trials

Bakersfield Californian ^ | 3/10/05 | Edward Rwema - AP

[NormsRevenge]

KIGALI, Rwanda (AP) - A nine-judge community court handed down its first conviction Thursday of a Rwandan accused of killings in the 1994 genocide, as authorities set in motion a system of trials designed to speed the task of deciding the guilt or innocence of the 63,000 people accused of taking part in the government-orchestrated slaughter.

Genocide survivors have complained about the slow pace of implementing the community court system, known as gacaca trials, and what they say are lenient sentences given to those who confess their role.

But Rwandan officials said they turned to the system to speed the judicial process which has dragged on for more than a decade since the ethnic slaughter that pitted extremists from the Hutu majority against the Tutsi minority in this tiny Central African country.

Human rights groups have said the proceedings do not meet international standards for criminal courts.

But Rwanda's conventional courts now are trying only the cases of the alleged leaders of the 100-day slaughter, and it could have taken decades for the cases of lower-level participants to reach a national criminal court. The very top genocide suspects are being tried at a U.N. tribunal in neighboring Tanzania.

Those serving on the nine-judge gacaca courts are elected from their communities which hold public meetings to gather evidence, identify victims and decide if suspects should be tried. The gacaca courts can impose penalties of up to life in prison. Only conventional courts can impose the death penalty.

There will be 12,000 of gacaca courts when the system is in full operation. But Johnston Busingye, secretary general in the justice ministry, could not say when that would happened.

Rwandan officials have said the system, which brings together genocide survivors and their tormentors, could promote reconciliation.

The trials have "been expected by the whole country, by the victims of the genocide and actually by the perpetrators as well because gacaca is ... supposed to bring healing, it is supposed to bring closure and it is supposed to promote unity and reconciliation," Busingye said.

The first conviction was handed down Thursday when a panel of nine judges - dressed in sashes bearing national colors of yellow, blue and green - convicted 37-year-old Saddam Nshimiyimana for killing people at a roadblock during the genocide and slaying others who took refuge in a Roman Catholic church in Kigali, the Rwandan capital.

Nshimiyimana was sentenced to 30 years in jail. He denied killing anyone but confessed to robbing and destroying Tutsi homes.

"We can see justice taking root," said Augustin Ngendahayo, who lost dozens of relatives, including some he said were killed by Nshimiyimana. "But up to now we still have people who don't want to reveal the truth on what happened."

Suspects are encouraged to confess and seek forgiveness from survivors in exchange for lighter sentences. Busingye said a large percentage of those facing the prospect of a gacaca trial have admitted a role in the slaughter.

[NormsRevenge]

AP Photo/STR

A Rwandan genocide suspect stands trial before a community court, also known as a gacaca in Zivu, southern Rwanda, Thursday, March 10, 2005. Rwandan genocide suspects will stand trial before their neighbors in community courts formed to speed up prosecution for tens of thousands of people accused of taking part in the government-orchestrated slaughter in 1994. Rwanda set up the community courts in an effort to speed up trials for 63,000 people currently in detention on charges of taking part in the slaughter of more than 500,000 minority Tutsis and political moderates from the Hutu majority.

[NormsRevenge]

Human rights groups have said the proceedings do not meet international standards for criminal courts.

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Climb back in your damn holes.

Like the UN standards for preventing the massacres were such a gem to behold, in the first place?

[Calpernia]

I'm still unclear as to how my thought ties in...but I want to add, Bill Clinton has an honorary citizenship to Rwanda.

[thoughtomator]

When's Kofi's turn to answer for his actions, I wonder?

[Clemenza]

Last week, I finally got around to seeing "Hotel Rwanda." It is the most damning indictment of UN incompetance I have seen in some time, even better than that JBS video about Katanga Coleus.