Domitilla Mukantaganzwa, 60, is the new President of the Supreme Court and Chief Justice of Rwanda, the fourth highest-ranking position in the government's hierarchy. She was sworn in on Thursday afternoon in a ceremony that was presided over by President Paul Kagame at the parliamentary buildings in Kimihurura, Kigali. ALSO READ: New Chief Justice sworn in, vows to deliver Mukantaganzwa becomes the sixth Chief Justice of Rwanda after the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. She is also the second female to assume the position, after Aloysie Cyanzayire who did so from 2003 to 2011. ALSO READ: Kagame tasks new Chief Justice to dispense Justice without exception Mukantaganzwa brings a wealth of experience to the position having played various roles in the country’s judiciary during the past three decades, including heading the Gacaca, a semi-traditional criminal justice system that tried over a million cases of the Genocide against the Tutsi. Most importantly, Gacaca courts which ran from 2003 to 2012, set the country on a path to national cohesion, something that was almost impossible for the conventional courts, given the circumstances at the time. The Chief Justice of Rwanda is the President of the Supreme Court and chairs the High Council of Judiciary, which oversees the judiciary. ALSO READ: Major reforms that shaped the justice sector in 2023 Here is a look at the first five Chief Justices in post-Genocide-Rwanda. Jean Mutsinzi The late Jean Mutsinzi was Rwanda's first Chief Justice after the genocide, serving from 1995 to 1999. He was a United Nations representative in Guinea Bissau during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi but returned to Rwanda to help rebuild the country and its legal system. ALSO READ: Former Chief Justice Mutsinzi is dead Mutsinzi who breathed his last in November 2019 led the country’s judiciary during the most difficult period, in the aftermath of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. During that time, tens of thousands were in prison for their role in the Genocide, with so few court officers to expend the much-needed justice for the survivors of the Genocide. Judges, prosecutors, and lawyers were either dead, in prison for Genocide, or had fled the country. During his tenure, Mutsinzi is remembered for presiding over reforms in the legal system. Following his retirement, he led an independent commission of experts that probed the shooting down of the plane that carried former President Juvenal Habyarimana in April 1994. The probe team that was prominently known as “the Mutsinzi Commission” was given a mandate through a prime ministerial decree to “establish the truth regarding the circumstances of the crash of the Falcon-50 airplane, registration number 9XR-NN on April 6, 1994.” It was instituted in 2007 and presented its report in 2009, having interviewed close to 600 witnesses who either observed what happened or had information directly related to the attack on the plane. Simeon Rwagasore In 1999, Rwagasore succeeded Mutsinzi as the second Chief Justice of Rwanda. Until his appointment, Rwagasore served as the country’s Prosecutor General. Rwagasore, who is also deceased now, led the country’s judiciary to the end of the transitional government in 2003. Aloyisia Cyanzayire History was made on December 12, 2003, after Aloyisia Cyanzayire was appointed as the first female Chief Justice in the aftermath of the Genocide. Until her appointment, she served as the vice-president of the Supreme Court in charge of the sixth chamber, a department overseeing the semi-traditional genocide courts commonly known as Gacaca, a position she held since 2001. During her 8-year tenure, Cyanzayire played a key role in the judicial sector reforms which started in 2004. At the time, Rwanda introduced new reforms – bringing in new legal structures in the justice sector. The Judiciary also moved to leverage technology in courtrooms by introducing new instruments including an Electronic Records Management System (ERMS), Judiciary Web Portal, and Electronic Case Filing (ECF). Other tools include the Digital Court Recording System (DCRS), Video Conferencing Facilities (VCF), Wide Area Networking (WAN), and Blog of the Judiciary all introduced as part of efforts to improve legal procedures in the Rwandan Judiciary. Other areas where the Judiciary registered success include capacity-building, where a big number of judicial staff were able to acquire skills and experience. Cyanzayire’s term in office also saw the rehabilitation and construction of court premises all over the country. Prof Sam Rugege Rugege was picked as the fourth Chief Justice in 2011, after previously serving as the deputy in the same docket. His tenure, too, is remembered for several justice sector reforms despite challenges such as the large number of outstanding cases and lack of highly experienced staff. Reacting to his 8-year time at the help of the Rwandan judiciary, Rugege said, in an earlier interview, that his time “has been a learning experience.” After inheriting a system that was clogged with cases, Rugege told The New Times that one of the major milestones was reducing the backlog considerably. He said that in 2004, the justice sector had nearly 54,000 pending cases, some dating as far back as the 1980s before introducing contract judges at the primary courts, which helped engage more judges. Within about five years, the backlog had reduced significantly. Rugege’s time in office also saw the establishment of the Court of Appeal, which took over cases that were stuck in the Supreme Court. In 2016, the judiciary introduced the integrated case management system (ICMS), a more advanced instrument that enables people to file cases, or their lawyers to file their cases on their behalf in the system, and also follow up on the case. Under his tenure, the judicial sector’s approval rating also increased substantially, from 60 percent to around 88.4 percent according to the Rwanda Governance Board(RGB). Another breakthrough registered during Rugege’s time in office include giving a decent burial to the remains of genocide victims that were stashed in the community after more than 25 years. A total of 84,435 bodies of genocide victims were retrieved from various areas in Kigali and laid to rest in May 2019 at the Nyanza Genocide Memorial. Faustin Ntezilyayo In 2019, President Paul Kagame appointed Rwanda’s former Justice Minister (1996-1999) as the new Chief Justice, replacing Sam Rugege. Ntezilyayo, an accomplished lawyer, served in various positions within the government including as Vice Governor of the National Bank of Rwanda and Managing Director of the Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Agency, among others. Ntezilyayo will be remembered for heralding significant transformations within the justice sector, ushering in pivotal changes that are poised to redefine legal proceedings and ensure a fairer justice system. Notable among these reforms are the extension of plea bargaining to all courts, the authorization of digital IDs, and the recalibration of penalties for infanticide cases linked to postpartum depression. It was also during Ntezilyayo’s tenure that Rwanda introduced its revised penal law bringing about significant changes to the country’s criminal justice system, including from increasing the judge's discretionary powers to reduce a possible life sentence to at least 15 years of imprisonment – depending on mitigating circumstances – to prescribing tougher penalties for false accusations against another person. President Kagame paid a glowing tribute to Ntezilyayo, saying that “he did everything possible to dispense quality justice even in the face of challenges.” Kagame made the remarks while officiating the swearing-in ceremony of Domitilla Mukantaganzwa, the new Chief Justice.
