Kagame challenges international community on Genocide justice

URUGWIRO VILLAGE - President Paul Kagame has said that 16 years after the Genocide against the Tutsi, Rwanda is still appealing to countries harbouring suspected genocidaires to bring them to book. The President who was addressing members of both local and international media yesterday, was responding to people who question the credibility and capability of the Rwandan justice system to try Genocide fugitives. “If they don’t trust our justice system, let them use theirs to try these cases. All we are asking for is justice,” he said Kagame explained that Rwanda was more interested in the deliverance of justice than the location of where it is rendered. “If they can’t give them (fugitives) to Rwanda because they don’t trust us, why don’t they apply their own justice to deal with the cases?,” he asked. He insisted that what was important for Rwandans was justice and reminded that the cases can be tried anywhere. “I don’t understand the logic, I don’t see the rationale. What is relevant is to try the cases in their countries or in the relevant courts,” he said. “It’s neither Rwanda, the host country, or the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) that was established for that purpose…but you can’t tell me that because you have no trust or confidence in our judiciary, it stops you from trying these cases”. President Kagame said that the country is willing and ready to provide all the necessary information to get the cases off the ground. “All you need to do is to ask us for information or evidence. What is relevant is for you to try a case that needs to be tried,” he said. Kagame’s comments come at a time when hundreds of Genocide fugitives, some of whom masterminded the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, are living freely in various countries around the world. Ends

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Kagame challenges international community on Genocide justice