Rwandans are judge and jury

2004-04-01 14:12

Mayange, Rwanda - Innocent Mbungiramihigo stood under a shade tree, his gaze fixed on the ground, as a judge enumerated the 24 murders he had admitted to carrying out during Rwanda's genocide 10 years ago.

"Sixth crime: on April 20, 1994, the group of killers in which you participated massacred a boy, a girl and an old woman with a hoe. Before burying them, you took the old woman's money to go drink banana wine," said the judge, an ordinary Rwandan presiding over a grassroots 'gacaca' court in this southern village.

After his crimes had been read out, the accused, a 52-year-old Hutu, addressed the 'court'.

"That guy over there, he was with us," said Mbungiramihigo, pointing at another man who, like him, had been released from prison to ease overcrowding.

"That's not true, I didn't do anything," said the man accused by Mgungiramihigo, stiffening at the allegations but looking the judge and jurors straight in the face.

A lively discussion began, bringing in the accused, the jury, the judge, even the public gallery. A few babies, who had been silent up until then, started to cry.

Two years ago, 90% of the 115 000 people in Rwanda's jails were implicated in the genocide and of those only 5 864 had been convicted by the end of 2001, according to officials at Rwanda's Supreme Court.

The first 12 grassroots courts, one for each of Rwanda's dozen provinces, began work in June 2002, laying the groundwork for 11 000 such courts that have since opened across the small country.

At weekly hearings, judges gather evidence and hold hearings on those accused of genocide crimes, after listening to testimony in public.

The gacaca courts take their inspiration from old village tribunals traditionally used to settle disputes.

The courts do not hear cases of people accused of orchestrating the genocide. They appear before conventional courts in Rwanda and a UN court in Arusha, north Tanzania.

The coordinator of the gacaca at Mayange, Mathia Ntagozera, told reporters: "Innocent is quite a rarity. Usually, prisoners admit their guilt to get out of prison but once they're free, they clam up."

Then he addressed the court: "Take Innocent's example and admit what you have done, tell the whole truth.

"If you confess, you will get a lighter sentence. You might even be able to avoid prison," he said.

More often than not, survivors of the genocide do not take part in gacaca hearings, which usually gather only Hutus - the perpetrators of the genocide - who mutually accuse each other of committing the barbaric crimes that propelled Rwanda to infamy during the spring of 1994.

"The survivors had enough of listening to the lies of the former (Hutu) detainees," said an observer, who asked not to be named.

In Mayange, the gacaca still has 20 of 73 preliminary investigations to work through, before the real trials can begin.

- AFP