Rwanda verdict: Your views
 Bagosora has been in custody since 1996. |
It is the first time the Rwanda tribunal has convicted anyone of organising the killings.
BBC News website readers in Rwanda have been sending their reactions to their verdict.
The verdict is very important as it provides some measure of closure to the family of close to a million people who died in the 1994 genocide.
 |  It is appalling to see how fast the UN and the EU and others are moving to protect their interests from the clutch of Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden as the spectre of Rwanda unfolds in Darfur.  |
General Romeo Dallaire's account of his desperate efforts to warn the looming cataclysm to the power-that-be of the day fell on deaf ears and the world just stood by and watched as Bagosora and his militia systematically slaughtered innocent Tutsis and moderate Hutus over a period of 100 days.
It is appalling to see how fast the UN and the EU and others are moving to protect their interests from the clutch of Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden as the spectre of Rwanda unfolds in Darfur.
Having said that, today's verdict also gives hope to many around the world that people like Bagosora will no longer be able to live with impunity and have to pay for their crimes sooner or later. 
I think this is the right judgement. He deserves punishment because impunity reigned in his time of command.
He didn't protect Rwandans from the killings, which was his job, he had the authority to protect people.
This sentence leaves a lesson, and it is that people should use their position to protect and guide their responsibilities.
The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) has to make sure that this never happens again, whatever road they take.
Whatever happened during the genocide, for those who are still alive, the tribunal offers the chance to see that the laws are correcting the miscarriage of justice.
This is a lesson for the present and for all the future generations.
 More than 800,000 people were killed in Rwanda's genocide. |
I was extremely happy when I heard the news about the verdict.Finally, the tribunal is showing that it wants to do something about the genocide in Rwanda, as this is the first serious punishment they have made a decision on.
But I am still worried about the genocide perpetrators that are moving freely all over the world.
Some of them have gone to African countries like Gabon, Burkina Faso and Cameroon, but the ICTR has done nothing to get them.
Some local organisations are trying to investigate the cases, but they don't have the capacity to look for the people who have gone to these countries.
Why can't the ICTR work together with Interpol to arrest FDLR rebel leaders who were also involved in 1994 genocide and are always moving from one country to another?
Why not pursue Congo for the continuing support of people guilty of genocide? Why are European countries arresting these people and in the end letting them free?
The UN tribunal has spent a lot of money and many years, but I feel they have done very little work.
They need more extradition powers or better still, cases should be transferred to Rwandan courts which could work with the support of the international community.
I don't think many Rwandans and the government in general bother about what takes place in the court rooms in Arusha.
We are talking about a court that has existed for many years, squandered billions of dollars and handed out only 33 convictions.
I wish such millions had been pumped in the Rwandan justice ministry, we could have at least 75% of genocide cases decided in the last 10 years.
Bagosora's conviction is welcome here, but the court has been too slow in its activities to merit any kind of praise.
No comments:
Post a Comment