120 Genocide convicts petition court over reparations

Dozens of Genocide convicts yesterday packed the High Court trial chamber in Kigali to hear an appeal in which they challenge a lower court ruling which ordered them to pay a combined Rwf2 billion in reparations for their crimes committed in the 1994 Genocide.They were found guilty of charges ranging from looting to destroying property, but for some of the defendants, the charges will be dropped in case the court confirms reports that they died.One hundred and twenty one genocide convicts were ordered to pay the reparations. The case was filed and won by 392 Genocide survivors from Bugesera district.About 40 defendants appeared before Judge Antoine Muhima on Tuesday.But the trial was adjourned until December 24 due to certain missing documents in the dossier concerning the case.Adjourning the hearing, Judge Muhima said the court will sit at Rilima Prison in Nyamata Sector, Bugesera so that Genocide Survivors–who are the plaintiffs–some of whom are financially not able to travel to Kigali, can follow the hearing.“Some of the people in this case file died but we don’t have proof yet, others were acquitted but they do not have addresses to trace them. There are also people who are here and claim that they appealed but we don’t have their applications. We cannot have the trial begin with an incomplete file,” said Judge Muhima.The prosecutor in the case, Eric Gakwaya, requested the judge to relocate the court to a convenient place so that all concerned people can attend – a request that the judge granted.“In the mean time, we promise that by the time the court convenes again, we would have got the death certificates of the deceased and all the missing items in the file as a way of facilitating this trial,” said Gakwaya.It is not clear what penalties most defendants who are financially unable to clear the reparation will face since the law that determines how victims should be compensated in that case is not clear.Of the 121 convicts, nine of them were initially sentenced to death before the death sentence was abolished in the country’s law books, while 30 are serving life sentences.According to the Prosecution, two died of natural causes.The winding up of the Gacaca judicial system early this year left some challenges, especially compensating victims. The community justice system, which was set up in 2002, to speed up Genocide trials, ended its activities after disposing close to two million cases, with about 37,000 convicts serving their sentences in various prisons.About 1.2 million cases fell in the third category, which involved suspects accused of crimes of a relatively lesser magnitude like looting and destruction of property.

National

120 Genocide convicts petition court over reparations