The Gacaca grassroots courts will wrap up operations in December, justice minister Tharcisse Karugarama said Friday.
“A final report will be completed by December and this chapter of Gacaca will be officially declared closed,” Karugarama said in a statement.
The Gacaca court is part of a system of community justice inspired by tradition and established in 2001|2001 in Rwanda|Rwanda, in the wake of the 1994|1994 Genocide|Rwandan Genocide, against the Tutsi claimed over 1 million lives. The Gacaca courts are a method of transitional justice|Transitional justice, designed to promote healing and moving on from the crisis.
“Through Gacaca we have been able to judge and resolve up to 1.4 million dossiers,” the minister said — “a great achievement that would have been impossible otherwise.”
“There have been prison sentences ranging from five to ten years, life sentences that make up five to eight percent of the verdicts and acquittals that make up 20 to 30 percent,” said Karugarama.
The Gacaca, which started functioning in 2005, were initially due to wind down by the end of 2007, but the date has been postponed several times due to the complexity of some of the cases before them.
According to the National Service of Gacaca Jurisdiction, a body that coordinates the grassroots courts’ activities, the 97 remaining cases will be closed by July.
The courts have the jurisdiction to try those who took part in the killings, but not those suspected of planning the genocide on a national or regional level.
“All in all we are happy that we have a unique system that caters to our people needs, it may not be perfect for other nations but it serves us very well,” said Karugarama.
After the Genocide, the new Rwandan Patriotic Front|Rwandan Patriotic Front’s government struggled with developing just means for the humane detention|Detention (Imprisonment) and prosecution|Prosecution of the more than 100,000 people accused of genocide|Genocide, war crimes|War crimes, and related crimes against humanity|Crimes against humanity. By 2000|2000, approximately 120,000 alleged genocidaires were crammed into Rwanda’s prisons and communal jails. From December 1996|1996 to December 2006|2006, the courts managed to try about 10,000 suspects at that rate it would take another 110 years to prosecute all the prisoners.
To speed things up, some prisoners were released : In two rounds, in 2004|2004 and 2005|2005, about 50 prisoners were released. In January, 2007, another 8,000 prisoners were scheduled for release.
However, the courts needed a more expeditious means of delivering justice. In response, Rwanda implemented the Gacaca court|Court system, which has evolved from traditional cultural communal law enforcement procedures. Rwanda has especially focused on criminal prosecutions in the Gacaca courts, putting justice partially into the hands of the victims.
The Gacaca courts are meant to provide smaller courts to relieve the burden of the larger courts. Criminals are charged with acts against humanity, such as murder and serious assault. These courts are not allowed to try accused rapists, however.[8] The idea is to let the village courts resolve these issues and hopefully provide some reconciliation. The trials are meant to promote reconciliation and justice. The defendant is accused and brought to trial. The trial is held in public, where survivors and the victims’ families can confront the accused. The accused confess to their crimes or maintain their innocence. The villagers can either speak for or against the defendant.
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