RWANDA: Long-awaited Gacaca trials about to begin

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RWANDA: Long-awaited Gacaca trials about to begin

[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

NAIROBI, 11 June (IRIN) - The long-awaited trials to be conducted by Gacaca courts - an adapted form of Rwandan traditional participatory justice - are to begin on 18 June to deal with the perpetrators of the 1994 genocide, in which Hutu extremists in the country killed some 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus in 100 days.

The purpose of the Gacaca judicial process was to expedite the trials of those accused of crimes, to "reveal the truth about the genocide", to put an end to the culture of impunity in Rwanda, and to reconcile the Rwandan people and strengthen ties between them, said President Paul Kagame's government on its official website. Gacaca also revived traditional forms of dispensing justice based on Rwandan culture, and demonstrated the ability of local communities to solve their own problems by involving people in the trial and sentencing process, the government added.

The Gacaca system:

Since 1996, Rwandan law has categorised genocide suspects into four categories: category 1 comprises the planners, organisers, instigators and leaders of the genocide, "notorious murderers", and persons who committed acts of sexual torture or violence; category 2 comprises the perpetrators, conspirators or accomplices of homicide or serious assault; category 3 comprises those accused of serious assaults; and category 4 those who committed offences against property, such as looting.

In March 2001, the attorney general released a revised list of 2,900 category 1 suspects who may incur the death penalty if convicted, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in its annual report for 2002.

During the trials prisoners will be brought before a public gathering in their hometowns or villages, and local residents will be invited to participate.

In a trial run in June 2001, Hirondelle quoted a state prosecutor as telling the crowd: "You know what happened in our country in 1994. They [the prisoners] are suspected of having participated in the genocide. You are going to tell us what you know about them, either against them or in their defence, how they behaved during that macabre period.

"Beware of becoming too emotional. Don't make false accusations. Do not be afraid of telling the truth. Your local authorities are here. I have come with the regional chief of police. They are there to protect you whenever you might need it."

After the accused had introduced themselves individually, people went into the centre of the large circle formed by the crowd, and told what they knew about each of them, Hirondelle reported. As the process went on, people spoke with increasing confidence.

The "people's judges":

The judges, some 254,000 of them, were elected publicly in October 2001 by their communities on the basis of their integrity. Participation in the elections was 90 percent in some rural areas, Hirondelle reported, although this figure was slightly lower in the capital, Kigali.

The judges will preside over the 11,000 Gacaca courts at four levels - cell, sector, district and prefecture levels - and will judge all but those accused of the most serious of crimes committed during the genocide. (The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, based in Arusha, Tanzania, has been mandated to try those accused of genocide and crimes against humanity.) Six days of training have been given to each judge - in the basic principles of law, group management, conflict resolution, judicial ethics, trauma, human resources, equipment and financial management.

Category 1 suspects will continue to be tried in conventional courts, where the judges possess at least a law degree.
Conventional system of justice:

The government estimates it would take at least 200 years to complete the trial of genocide-related detainees if the country relies on its conventional courts system. There are about 115,000 detainees accused of genocide and crimes against humanity in Rwandan prisons, according to Hirondelle. Many thousands of them have no specific charges against them, despite having spent up to eight years in prison. The vast number of genocide suspects due for trial had placed a "severe strain" on the criminal justice system that, the Rwandan government said, was already "crippled" by poor infrastructure and the deaths of professionals during the genocide.

"The lack of an adequate number of prosecutors, judges, and lawyers to try cases exacerbates the already bad situation," the government said on its official website. By April 2002 only about 6,500 people had been judged, Hirondelle reported.
In an interview in May 2002, Kagame said it might have been possible to expedite the process using the classical justice system had the international community provided Rwanda with legal professionals to work in the country and try the cases, "but as this assistance was not forthcoming, and we had to deal with the problem ourselves, we decided to improvise with Gacaca."

Reservations about Gacaca:

Whereas the "grass-roots" form of popular justice might encourage people to testify to events they witnessed personally during the genocide, human rights advocacy organisations have a number of reservations about the system. These include the fact that under the Gacaca system, lawyers are not allowed to represent the accused; the judges will be examining complex and extremely serious cases with no formal legal training, and in some cases little or no formal education; and judges may have a personal interest in the verdict.

Moreover, the accused have no right to appeal against the categorisation of their crimes, which has serious implications for the punishment, and aspects of the Gacaca process do not conform to basic international standards for fair trials guaranteed in international treaties that Rwanda has ratified. Doubts have also been raised as to whether the many female victims of rape and sexual torture will feel free to accuse their perpetrators at public hearings.

Despite these reservations, however, HRW said in its report for 2002 that "the innovative system [of Gacaca] offered the only hope of trial within the foreseeable future for the tens of thousands now suffering inhumane conditions in prisons and communal lock-ups".

The Gacaca trials are due to start in 12 pilot prefectures, and will then to be extended to every part of the country within two months, according to Hirondelle.

[ENDS]

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