According to a Bloomberg report, Rwandas who had been convicted with killing people in the 100-day slaughter of Tutsis and moderate Hutus in 1994 saw themselves being forgiven by no less than the surviving members of their victims. The Gacaca court, which is a part of a community justice system, helped convicted killers like 56 year-old Gasto Ufiteumukinza achieve their freedom and were able to return back to the society without fear of retaliation. The Rwandan government reportedly used this system to prosecute Ufiteumukinza and thousands like him who had taken part in the genocide that killed at least 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus in a span of a hundred days.
Ufiteumukinza, who now works as a part-time construction worker and is a teacher in training, said in an April 4 interview in Kigali, "I confessed and asked for forgiveness in gacaca courts. I also visited the families of the people I killed. I was forgiven, which I could not believe."
European Union foreign-policy chief Catherine Ashton had stated today, "Rwandans are testimony to the supremacy of justice in pursuing perpetrators of the tragedy of 1994, from which Rwanda has gradually but purposefully recovered."
According to Human Rights Watch, the gacaca system formed part of the significant process that helped Rwanda bring in perpetrators of the harrowing crime to justice in the last two decades. Aside from the traditional courts, the International Criminal Tribunal of the United Nations was set up especially for Rwanda and had convicted 49 people, according to the interest group's March 28 report. France, Germany and Belgium also tried genocide suspects who had fled Rwanda following the genocide, the report also said.
The gacaca system, which heard around two million cases before ending in 2012, was also credited in boosting the African country's economy since shrinking in 1994, based on World Bank data.
Bloomberg said that the closure of the Rwandan genocide was partly due to the efforts of current Rwandan President Paul Kagame, of which his administration passed a law that criminalizes the denial of the genocide.
