Rwandan prisoners to walk
2004-03-06 20:13
Kigali - Rwanda will this month grant bail to more than 4 500 prisoners to ease chronic overcrowding in the central African country's jails, state prosecutor Jean de Dieu Mucyo said Saturday.
"For the moment, we've drawn up a list of 4 582 common law prisoners to free, of a total of more than 12 000", Muyco said, adding that the number could increase slightly in the next few days.
The prosecutor said the exercise will also concern some of the people who have been held in Rwanda for years for their alleged roles in the country's genocide of 1994, in which the government says a million people were killed.
The International Committee of the Red Cross estimates that Rwanda's jails still hold 89 000 people.
"Between March 15 and 20," those to be conditionally freed will include, "apart from the sick and elderly people, detainees who have already been in prison longer than the sentences they could face," he added.
President Paul Kagame on January 1, 2003, asked prison authorities to give conditional freedom to people who had served at least half of the jail terms they faced if convicted. This led to the release last year of more than 22 000 people, mostly detainees who had confessed to participation in the genocide.
In April, Rwandans will be commemorating the 10th anniversary of the outbreak of the three months of organised slaughter, in which Hutu government troops and militias of the time killed minority Tutsis and Hutus opposed to the genocide.
The butchery ended when a then rebel movement led by Kagame seized power.
Awaiting trial
Muyco said that many of those to be freed this month were awaiting trial, without specifying exactly how many.
Once out of jail, the detainees will be transferred to "ingandos", the name given to the "solidarity camps" where they must spend a month undergoing training before being released into the society at large.
"The prosecutors' offices are ready to free them, but the date depends on the Unity and Reconciliation Commission, which is waiting for the funds for the 'ingandos' to be made available," Muyco said.
"If all goes well it should happen between March 15 and 20."
Once common law prisoners have been freed will come the turn, once more, of people who have confessed to taking part in the genocide but served the sentence they would have faced on conviction.
Muyco was unable to say how many such detainees might be released, but their freedom will come "well after the commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the genocide".
Rwandan law on crimes of genocide provides for major reductions in the length of sentences for those who confess to participation in the massacres. The government has given detainees until March 15 to come forward should they want to benefit from the releases.