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A Lawyer consulting his client in one
of the trials. |
The ICTR tries 24 people in 8 years
By Hirondelle News Agency
As the world commemorates the 11th anniversary of the genocide against Tutsi in
Rwanda, the international Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) has so far only
managed to hand down judgement to 24 people in the last eight years.
Created November 8, 1995 by a UN security Council resolution, the tribunal which
has its seat in the northern Tanzanian town of Arusha only opened its first
trial - that of Jean Paul Akayesu, former mayor of Taba - in January 1997.
A year later, Akayesu was sentenced to life in prison after being found guilty
of genocide and crimes against humanity. He was particularly charged with
encouraging the rape of Tutsi women and girls.
Since then, a total of 21 people have been sentenced to various prison terms
ranging from six years to life imprisonment. Three of them were acquitted.
Among those sentenced was the Prime Minister of the interim government in power
during the genocide, Jean Kambanda who is serving his time in a Malian prison.
In 1998, he pleaded guilty to genocide and crimes against humanity and was given
a life sentence.
The tribunal judged that the aggravating circumstances, particularly the heinous
character of the crime of genocide, overshadowed the mitigating factor of his
pleading guilty and offering to cooperate with the prosecutor.
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Some of the earlier ICTR Judges. |
Three other people pleaded guilty after Kambanda, among them,
the only non-Rwandan implicated in the genocide. Georges Ruggiu, a former
presenter of the hate radio station, Radio-vision libre des Mille collines (RTLM)
accused of inciting hatred. He was sentenced to 12 years in prison.
The most recent person to confess and plead guilty is the former councillor of
Mubuga, Vincent Rutaganira who was sentenced to six years in March 2005.
The first acquittal, in 2001, was that of a former mayor, Ignace Bagilishema.
The former minister of transport and communication, Andre Ntagerura, and the
former prefet (Governor) of Cyangugu, Emmnauel Bagambiki, were acquitted in
February 2004.
The Prosecutor has already appealed against the acquittal of the two but the
case has not yet been heard by the appeals chamber.
When the ICTR it condemned Kambanda, it established an international
jurisprudence by showing that leaders were responsible for human rights
violations committed in the course of exercising their duties.
The ICTR is the first international jurisdiction to pass judgement on the crime
of genocide ever since the convention against genocide was adopted in 1948. 11
of Kambanda's 19-member cabinet have been apprehended.
The ICTR set another precedence in the Akayesu trial when it concluded that
rape, which is a crime against humanity, constituted a genocide when it was
committed as part of a systematic and widespread attack against a civilian
population because they belonged to a certain ethnic group.
The tribunal also set another important milestone in 2003 when it passed
judgment in the so-called "Media trial" that grouped three former operators of
what came to be known as the "hate media"; RTLM and Kangura newspaper.
The tribunal came to the conclusion that the three people had "contaminated" the
minds of their co-
citizens by their messages that incited ethnic hatred and massacres.
The ICTR has indicted 81 ever since it was established, 69 of whom have already
been arrested. 57 people, among them a woman, are being detained in Arusha while
six are serving their sentences in Mali.
Mali is one of the six countries that have signed an accord with the ICTR to
have condemned prisoners serve their time in the prisons. The others are; Benin,
Swaziland, France, Sweden and Italy though none has yet received any prisoner.
Negotiations are also at an advanced stage with Rwanda.
As part of the exit strategy of the ICTR, in February 2005 the Prosecutor handed
over to Rwandan authorities the files of 15 suspects living in foreign
countries. Trials that will not have been completed when the tribunal's mandate
comes to an end in 2008 will be transferred to national jurisdictions, Rwanda
included.
On the eve of the commemoration of the 11th anniversary of the genocide, the
ICTR is satisfied with the elaborate measures it has put in place as regards the
protection of witnesses.
According to its internet site, it has facilitated the travel to Arusha of over
250 witnesses (both prosecution and defence) from over 15 countries in Africa,
Europe and America. 20 witnesses particularly at risk have been relocated
outside or within Rwanda.
Despite that balance sheet, the ICTR has on several occasions been criticised
for dragging its feet.
Officials at the tribunal explain that this is caused by the complicated
procedures; the marrying of the common law with the civil law systems, the
translation of documents into several languages, witnesses and defence lawyers
coming from all corners of the world, etc.
In order to turn the tables, the tribunal acquired the services of nine ad litem
(nor permanent) judges who came to bolster the work of the nine permanent judges
who are elected for a four year mandate. It has also recently commissioned a
fourth courtroom.
Others have also criticised the tribunal of ignoring a part of its mandate; that
of prosecuting members of the former rebel Rwandese Patriotic Front suspected of
having committed war crimes in 1994.
Recently the Prosecutor announced that he was still in the process of evaluating
the evidence he has and that he would decide later whether to file indictments
or not.
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