{In the 2015 leadership retreat, President Paul Kagame requested finalization of Gacaca verdicts related to properties within one year.}
At the time, the Prime Minister promised that such judgments will be concluded not later than 2015. However, statistics from the Ministry of Justice indicate that 5% of Gacaca judgments related to wealth have not yet been executed even though there is a hope that they will be handled during the Legal Aid week from 9th to 13th May.
The Minister of Justice, Johnston Busingye says that the Legal Aid Week will be held for the 8th time and is expected to provide legal aid to children, women inmates and others but with much emphasis on completing the execution of Gacaca judgments related to wealth at national level.
“We want to put much emphasis on concluding Gacaca verdicts. Only few judgments remain at national level since they are under 5%. We believe that we will try our best during this week to execute remaining judgments in a way that keeps supporting unity and reconciliation of Rwandans,” he said.
He requested Rwandans to embrace the culture of resolving disputes.
The Legal Aid Week is organized in collaboration with Legal Aid Forum (LAF) and was launched in 2009.
The executive secretary of LAF, Andrew Kananga said they expect good results during the week.
“In the past, we would handle about 500 or 600 cases involving children. Currently we have only seven cases of children to handle.
More than 90,000 people have received legal aid since Legal Aid Week started.
Gacaca courts officially closed on June 18th 2012 after handling 1.9 million cases during a period of ten years.
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