Genocide survivors have faulted the U.S. for what they think is Washington’s soft stance with regard to ongoing cases at the UN-backed International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR).
The Government of Rwanda announced that it would hold an official closing ceremony for the semi-traditional courts known as gacaca on May 4, 2012 according to information received by Hirondelle News Agency.
According to the Chamber, the prosecution proved beyond reasonable doubt that Tutsi women and girls were raped, mutilated and sexually assaulted by Interahamwe, other militias, soldiers and civilians on a large scale in various places in Rwanda, as part of a widespread and systematic attack that intended to destroy the Tutsi ethnic group. The judges noted that the accused took no action to prevent Interahamwe from raping or to punish the perpetrators. “Accordingly, the Chamber finds that Karemera and Ngirumpatse are liable for the rapes and sexual assaults against Tutsi women and girls,” the judges ruled.
The former president of the Ivory Coast, Laurent Gbagbo, was transferred overnight from the Ivory Coast to the International Criminal Court detention centre which is located within a Dutch prison in Scheveningen, The Hague.
The District Court in The Hague, Netherlands, has ruled that genocide suspect Yvonne Ntacyobatabara Basebya should remain in custody while investigations in her case are still ongoing. Three judges ruled during a pre-trial hearing that the charges against her (which include murder and rape) “are the gravest in international law,” and that they therefore could not grant her temporary release to celebrate Christmas. The trial is scheduled to start next April.
On November 10, 2011, the Hirondelle News Agency reported that semi-traditional genocide courts known as gacaca will wrap up their work by December 31, despite 22 cases still outstanding.
Rwanda’s Prime Minister Bernard Makuza announces that, since the establishment of the Fund for Genocide Survivors, the government has spent Rwf 110.8 billion towards the welfare of survivors. The fund was established in 1998 to improve the welfare of genocide survivors by providing them with basic needs including shelter, healthcare, education and guidance towards self-sustainability.
Juergen Schurr reports that at a conference in Kigali last month, survivors stressed once again that they considered that justice without reparation is not justice. As of today, judgments awarding compensation to survivors have not been enforced and survivors have yet to receive reparation.
Rwanda’s semi-traditional gacaca courts have 54 genocide related cases left to complete before winding up their activities in December this year, according to the Executive Secretary of Gacaca services. Some of these include appeals.
Radio Netherlands reports that the Hague Appeal Court sentenced Joseph Mpambara to life imprisonment for war crimes committed during the Rwandan genocide. Mpambara was acquitted of two counts of rape committed during the genocide, despite eyewitness testimony. “You were at the forefront during the attack on the Seventh Day Adventist Complex. You and others shot these people, and attacked them with machetes, clubs and other weapons. Many hundreds of victims were massacred and wounded.”
