The Minister for Justice, Johnston Busingye, yesterday challenged judicial practitioners to take the lead in the fight against Genocide denial.

Busingye made the remarks while delivering a lecture on Genocide ideology, denial and trivialisation to members of the judiciary who included judges and prosecutors.

"As the custodians of the law, we must take the lead in fighting Genocide denial and must professionally and swiftly handle cases related to the offence,” he said.

The minister went ahead to detail provisions of the law that punish Genocide denial and the stages of genocide, saying that denial is the last stage of any genocide.

"There are several reasons behind Genocide denial, one of them being change of political order. Those who committed the crime thought the then government would never change and now they are confronted with the fact that they have to stand trial,” Busingye said.

He went on to say that some international actors try to deny the Genocide because of the ties they had with the genocidaires, hence opt to refer to it as a war.

"Our role as judicial practitioners is to keep society safe and if we don’t, then genocide could repeat. The judiciary serves as a shield or insurance for a safe society. This is why we have to take the fight against Genocide denial beyond borders.

During the event, judicial practitioners paid tribute to the former president of the Constitutional Court, Joseph Kavaruganda, who was among the politicians killed in the Genocide.

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