Case 4-1: Prosecuting Rwanda's Genocide Offenders

Prosecuting Rwanda's Genocide Offenders
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(April 13, 2013)
Prosecuting Rwanda's Genocide Offenders
In 1994, Rwanda experienced the worst political violence ever experienced in Africa. Two communities the Tutsi and Hutu engaged in a political clash for about 100 days leading to the loss of more than 800,000 lives. Therefore, the western powers supported the creating of an international criminal trial of Rwanda (ICTR). Thereafter, the court began investigating and arresting those people who bared the greatest responsibility in the war.
According to Amstutz (2008), it is estimated that in 1997, 120,000 individuals associated with the crime were arrested. By 2003, about 7,000 detainees were tried in the Rwandan court and 80 percent of them were found guilty. Therefore, because of the slow pace of the trials, Gacaca was created to try crimes that were less serious.
The main aim of the Gacaca court was to assist in reducing congestions of cases that were in the courts. However, different international bodies opposed the court because they believed that they did not have the ability crime to handle cases fairly.
Moral reflections
The best way to endure justice is by punishing those who commit crimes. This is because when a person commits a crime and he or she is punished it will serve as a warning to those may want to commit the same crime. However, there is a worry when a mass number of people are being prosecuted.
To begin with, trying 120,000 people in court and finding them guilty is almost impossible. The probability of the court being successful in prosecuting all those people is zero working under the assumption that only 5,600 people have been found guilty within a span of six years (Amstutz, 2008). This means that some people may end up staying in prison for more than 50 years without being found guilty which is not morally incorrect.
On the other hand, acquiring evidence for more than 120,000 suspects may take more than 20 years which implies that some witness would have died by then. In the long run justice will not prevail. Amstutz, (2008) therefore, the best solution was to embark on reconciliation. It will cost the government of Rwanda less money to reconcile people than it would cost it in maintaining 120,000 prisoners and finding evidence. The implication here is that legally it is right to prosecute a mass number people but morally it is not.
Q1: What is ethical here in this case?
International and local courts are a form of restoring moral foundation of Rwanda`s political society. Political leaders and government officials will always be aware of the consequences that will face them if they incite their supporters to fight.
The international court has also brought to attention all political leaders in Rwanda that in the event of any political difference, one should forward the complaint to the courts and await the ruling but not incite people to fight. They ha...