Lawyers have been asked to play an active role in reducing appeals directed to the Office of the Ombudsman contesting court decisions. 

Opening a workshop in Kigali, on Wednesday, Bernadette Kanzayire, the deputy ombudsman in charge of preventing and fighting injustice, said they had been receiving frivolous requests to review judgements and most of them are filed by lawyers.

"Lawyers should strive to play a significant role in fighting against injustice in courts and help people know that every loser should not appeal for judgment review. The law stipulates the grounds for an appeal to the Ombudsman’s office and it is up to lawyers to advise clients on the provisions,” Kanzayire said.

"Your clients will trust you if you explain to them that the case has been executed fairly and there is no reason to complain.”

Article 15 of the 2013 law determining the mission, powers, organisation and functioning of the Office of the Ombudsman, stipulates that in the interest of justice, the office willl have powers to request the Supreme Court to reconsider and review judgments rendered at last instance by ordinary courts, commercial and military courts, if there is any persistence of injustice.

Virginie Nyiranzeyimana, the director of court judgement review unit at the Ombudsman’s office, said they have received 4,492 requests since 2012.

"We receive an overwhelming number of requests for court judgement review but most of them have no facts to be appealed to us. We have examined 3,149 requests but only 148 were found genuine and sent to the Supreme Court for review,” she said.

Article 81 stipulates that the review of the final decision due to injustice shall only be applied when there is evidence of corruption or any favouritism, when there is irrefutable evidence that the judge ignored or when the judgment cannot be executed due to the drafting of its content.

Advising clients

Kanzayire said unnecessary appeals for review have caused the office to fail to respect the deadline of responding to a complainant within three months, saying that they have only completed examining the requests submitted before September, last year, posing a serious delay.

"We also want to work with Access to Justice bureaus in districts to help us sort the appeals worth coming to Ombudsman. The current law has loopholes as it does not set a deadline for one to appeal to us but we shall propose the deadline to reduce unnecessary requests,” she said.

Anita Mugeni, the dean and acting president of Rwanda Bar Association, said they were ready to help the government reduce court backlogs and recommended setting deadlines when appealing to the Ombudsman as it is the case in courts.

"We are discussing how we can reduce unnecessary appeals for review and, as lawyers, we are in the right position to play a significant role by advising our clients on the law. There should be a deadline for one to appeal and we want to help people know that not every lost case can be appealed for a review,” she said.

Mugeni added that before appealing to the Ombudsman, the lawyers should first check if the appeal cannot be made to the higher court.

"It is rare for a loser in court to admit defeat. We want to teach our clients about fairness in courts. When a judgement is executed judiciously, there is no need to complain and lawyers must help clients understand this,” Mugeni said.

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