Officials in Musanze District have announced plans to turn the former Ruhengeri Court of Appeal, currently the High Court Detached Chamber of Musanze into a Genocide memorial.

The decision, according to officials, is in line with efforts designed to accord decent burial to hundreds of people who were killed in the courtroom during the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi.

About the court

On 15 April 1994, over 200 Tutsi who had been brought from the former Busengo Sous-Prefecture (Now Gakenke District) were crammed into the courtroom.

The Tutsi were dragged into the court premises on the pretext that they would be protected but a local official who was called Nzanana, later ordered their killing in the hearing room.

Their bodies were dumped in pits within the vicinity of the court until the end of the Genocide when authorities buried them in a temporary mass grave about 200 meters away from the courtroom.

After the Genocide, the court remained operational for about 26 years with hearings taking place there – something which always hurt Genocide survivors who wanted the place turned into a Genocide memorial.

Speaking to The New Times, the Musanze District vice mayor for Economic Development, Andrew Mpuhwe Rucyahana said that effective January this year the court was relocated to another place to pave way for the long-awaited plan to transform the facility into a Genocide memorial.

Rucyahana noted that after consultations with various actors who include the umbrella organization of Genocide survivors (Ibuka), the National Commission for the Fight against Genocide (CNLG) and Aegis Trust among others, all parties agreed on turning the High Court, into a Genocide Memorial.

"The court was moved out, as we speak, in partnership with CNLG and the Aegis Trust we have designed terms of reference on how the new memorial will be managed and its particular design (…) we want it to be a significant memorial given the fact that it will be dwelling significant history on the Genocide,” He noted

He further added that "Everything is on track and construction activities are expected to commence by September,”

He revealed that the new Genocide memorial will be named the District Genocide Memorial noting that the existing memorials that include Busogo and Kinigi will remain in their respective places.

Survivors upbeat

Genocide survivors from across Musanze District and its environs welcomed the development saying their prayers had finally been answered.

"It was a burden for us seeing hearings taking place in the same rooms where our loved ones were killed in the Genocide. We are happy about the decision to turn the court into a memorial,” Pierre Rwasibo, the Ibuka President in Musanze District said.

However, Ibuka called upon authorities to refurbish and maintain the Kinigi Genocide Memorial, saying it keeps exceptional history of the Genocide perpetrated against the Tutsi in the northern region.

The memorial, Rwasibo said, has artifacts about all major episodes of killings by the former regime in the 1990s.