Genocide trials postponed

2006-04-21 13:40

Kigali - Rwanda has postponed until at least next month the start of nationwide village trials for hundreds of thousands of people accused in the country's 1994 genocide, an official said on Friday.

Trials before so-called gacaca (pronounced "gachacha") courts began on a pilot basis last year in some 750 jurisdictions and were to have gotten under way in all 8 000 of the tribunals this week.

But logistical problems and delays in training village elders who are to serve as judges and jurors in the trials forced the postponement until an as-yet undetermined date in May, the official said.

"We had to move the trials back," said Domitilla Mukantaganzwa, the director of the National Gacaca Jurisdiction Service (SNJG) in Rwanda's justice ministry that oversees the courts. "They should start in May."

She said training for many gacaca judges and jurors had just finished and that the expected start date was also affected by the election of new local leaders in February and March.

Clearing the backlog

"We had to meet the new local councillors to sensitise them to the gacaca process," Mukantaganzwa told AFP, referring in particular to the need to ensure the safety of witnesses, victims and court officials.

Based on the concept of a traditional tribal council, the gacacas were set up with the aim of clearing a heavy backlog of genocide-related cases from Rwanda's criminal courts, which have so far tried fewer than 10 000 suspects.

About 800 000 Rwandans - about 10% of the population and a number equal to those killed in the 100-day genocide between April and July 1994 in which Hutu extremists targeted mainly minority Tutsis - are expected to appear before the tribunals.

The gacacas that began work in 2005 have thus far delivered about 6 000 rulings although their work has been hampered by the reluctance of some witnesses to testify, according an international legal advocacy group.

The Brussels-based Lawyers Without Borders said earlier this month that witnesses have kept away from the gacacas partly out of fear of reprisals for their appearances and refusal to testify against relatives.

In addition, the partial start of the trials has led many Hutus to flee the country, fearing that they may be unjustly accused or convicted.

All of those to be tried by the gacacas are accused of participating in, but not organising or directing the killings, and can be given sentences ranging from community service up to life in prison.

Most of the accused major participants in genocide are being tried by the UN-backed International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in northern Tanzania and others by Rwandan courts.

- AFP