Rwanda Releases 533 Genocide Convicts After Completing Prison Sentences
Rwanda has released 533 people convicted of participating in the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi after they completed their prison sentences, the country’s Foreign Minister, Olivier Nduhungirehe, has announced.
Nduhungirehe disclosed on Friday that the released individuals had joined tens of thousands of other genocide convicts who had been freed over the past 25 years after serving their sentences.
Rwanda’s Minister of National Unity and Civic Engagement, Jean Damascene Bizimana, said the 533 former prisoners underwent rehabilitation programmes before their release to prepare them for reintegration into society.
Bizimana, however, warned them against promoting genocide ideology, encouraging ethnic divisions or engaging in other criminal activities that could result in their return to prison.
More than 100,000 people were convicted of crimes linked to the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda.
The genocide, which lasted approximately 100 days, claimed the lives of more than one million people, mostly ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus.
To prosecute those responsible, the Rwandan government established traditional Gacaca courts in 2002.
About 12,000 community-based tribunals operated across the country, handling approximately 1.9 million cases related to the genocide.
The mass killings began following the April 6, 1994, crash of a plane carrying Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana and Burundian President Cyprien Ntaryamira.
The aircraft was struck by a rocket, killing everyone on board. The incident triggered widespread massacres organised and carried out by Hutu extremists.
