The Ambassador of the European Union (EU) delegation to Rwanda, Nicola Bellomo has called on the government to revamp its criminal justice system and find alternatives to prosecution and imprisonment.

Bellomo said this at the opening of a one day consultative forum aimed at assessing the impact of the "Protecting Human Rights within Rwanda’s Criminal Justice System” project.

The project, funded by the EU and implemented by the Rwanda Bridges to Justice (RBJ) and Foundation Dignity in Detention Foundation ((DiDé), was designed to support government and institutional efforts to build and maintain a fair and efficient criminal justice system that protects and respects the rights of every Rwandan citizen.

The project commenced in January 2018 and will end in December this year.

Addressing the participants, Bellamo expressed his concerns over the size of Rwanda’s prison population, which he said is proportionately one of the highest in the world.

"This is the product of a failure in the criminal justice system to take seriously alternatives to prosecution and imprisonment. Prosecutors and judges should use more of the existing alternatives to imprisonment without fearing of departing from what is seen as the norm or of being accused of corruption,” he said.

He applauded the reforms made in the justice sector last year, particularly the development of the first ever criminal justice policy in Rwanda.

Achievements outlined

The Rwanda Bridges to Justice (RBJ) Director, John Bosco Bugingo, said that three years since the project kicked off, legal assistance had been provided to 880 venerable people.

Of these, 703 suspects were given early legal assistance at the Rwanda Investigation Bureau (RIB) level, Prosecution level as well as provision detention level in courts.

88 others were given assistance at a later stage in courts of law.

Bugingo told the participants that although the government had ordered a national lockdown to mitigate the spread of Covid-19 between March and May this year, RBJ did not lay its tools down.

"We put on masks and wore gloves and provided early legal assistance to 96 vulnerable people who needed the service of defence lawyers and through video conference, due process of the law was prioritised,” he said.

Outlined challenges

Bugingo said that the increased need for early legal interventions continues to grow higher than the number of lawyers willing to offer pro bono services at investigations level (interrogation), prosecution and provisional detention levels.

"With this challenge comes a direct impact because it is then that the movement of files slows down and it impacts our mission to lessen unnecessary detentions,” he said.

He called for more use of technology, especially video conferencing facilities in prison facilities and lower courts with relevant internet resources like data, which he said was a need that was made more evident during the lockdown period.

The Dignity in Detention Foundation ((DiDé), Regional Delegate Odette Mukansoro said that since the beginning of the project in January 2018 up to date, 4,050 cases have been provided with mental health and psycho-social support.

Among these cases, 2,900 cases have been taken up by the prison psychologists (also trained by the project) who are providing individual psychological support, 310 persons followed individual therapy with DiDé psychologists and 698 cases in need of psychiatric assistance have been referred to the District hospital or to referral hospital.