Rwanda genocide
25,000 Rwandan genocide suspects released

afrol News, 29 April - In Rwanda, the provisional release of genocide suspects is now ending. Government figures state that 25,029 detainees out of the approximately 112,000 Rwandans in the country's detention facilities were provisionally released in the first phase of scheduled prison releases, ending tomorrow.

While some 25,000 suspects already have been released, a final group of detainees, those whose confessions were verified after the first release, are to be released shortly.

The detainees, released today include those who have confessed to participation in the genocide (excluding "Category 1 offenders", who led and organised the genocide); those whose case files do not contain sufficient evidence to warrant their detention; and pre-trial detainees who have already spent more time in detention than they would if convicted for the crimes they allegedly committed.

The sick and the elderly - constituting nearly ten percent of the total number of those released - were released already in January. The remainder are being released today after spending more than two months in "solidarity camps", geared toward facilitating their reintegration into their home communities.

All releases are provisional, according to a Rwandan government decision. Thus, all of the detainees still have to be tried by either the ordinary or gacaca (community-based) courts, which all lack the capacity to have the large number of cases seriously treated.

As the first phase of scheduled releases of genocide suspects now comes to an end, the human rights group Amnesty International welcomed the Rwandan government's attempt "to address the serious overcrowding of the country's prisons." The group applauded the current judicial review of case files and confessions but questioned "why the government has so far lacked the political will to undertake these procedures."

Prison overcrowding and the attendant human rights abuses have been an endemic problem for the past eight years, according to Amnesty. Previous attempts to expedite the judicial review of case files were undermined by government inaction or opposition.

- The timing of the current significant number of releases prior to elections may suggest political opportunism, Amnesty said in a statement. "Nonetheless, the Rwandan government should continue efforts to ensure that individuals are not unlawfully detained."

Many of those directly involved in gacaca proceedings (plaintiffs, magistrates and community members) are troubled because the decision to release prisoners was made without consulting them, and this has in many cases stirred up feelings of trauma.

Some Rwandans are reported to be concerned that by taking this unilateral decision the government is undermining the communal nature of the justice that gacaca promised to deliver. President Paul Kagame however recently called upon all Rwandans to "continue to participate actively in the smooth functioning of the Gacaca courts."

The genocide trials
As many as one million Rwandans were brutally killed by their fellow Rwandans during the 1994 genocide and its aftermath. These killings were accompanied by numerous acts of torture, including rape.

The burdens faced by the post-genocide judicial system in Rwanda have proved insurmountable. Rwanda's special genocide chambers have tried less than six percent of those detained for suspected genocide offences since 1996.

A system of participatory justice known as Gacaca has been established. This system allows Rwandans to establish the truth about the 1994 genocide and slowly contributes to the trial and judgment of those suspected of genocide and other crimes against humanity. But the progress has been too slow.

Prior to the current releases, there were approximately 110,000 Rwandans in the country's detention facilities, the vast majority of them awaiting trial. Many were arbitrarily arrested and have been unlawfully detained for years with minimal or no investigation of the accusations lodged against them. The overcrowding and unsanitary conditions within detention facilities amount to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. Reportedly 11,000 people have died in detention since 1994.

The President of Rwanda issued a decree on 1 January 2003, granting provisional release to a projected 49,376 detainees. Projected releases were significantly reduced, following the interpretation and implementation of the presidential decree by the Ministry of Justice.

 

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