Judgment Day

Today I sat in on a court session at the UN-ICTR (International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda) where a man was being sentenced for crimes committed during the genocide in Rwanda in 1994. The accused man was a Prefect (somewhat like a mayor) in the town of Kigali and was being tried on 6 counts of genocide. After 49 trial days that involved 53 witnesses, the court was ready to issue a judgment. The man was being accused of encouraging military training, ordering roadblocks, distributing weapons, facilitating the movement of the Interharmwe militia, distributing fuel to the Interharmwe, selecting Tutsi refugees to be killed and being aware of and encouraging the rape of Tutsi women. In some of the cases mentioned above the court found significant evidence and in others, there was not enough evidence to convict him of that specific crime. In the end however, the accused was sentenced to life in prison for genocide, murder and rape related to war crimes and crimes against humanity.
It was very interesting to sit in on a judgment such as this. I have never personally witnessed someone being sentenced to life none the less for a crime such as genocide. It is my hope that this tribunal is really living out part of its mandate which is to send a message for perpetrators that impunity will no longer be tolerated and that the persons responsible for such crimes will be brought to justice. I also have the hope that in the end cases like these will help to deter future crimes on this level when people realize that the international community will no longer allow things like this to happen on its watch. We still have a long way to go in that regard but I think the tribunal is a step in the right direction.