ICTR

ICTR-

Yesterday I made my way to the International Court Tribunals For Rwanda.

I sat and was watching the appeal for a man who was a businessman and
"counselor" in Rwanda during the Genocide. He had already been sentenced
to life in prison and was now trying to appeal the case.

Sitting before me was a man who caused and incited violence. He had
personally, raped, murdered, disemboweled and decapitated. It was a
personal shock to compare my emotional experience in Rwanda as the
genocide penetrated into real life as I had realized that my very
residence was the site of the murder of 18 people, and to see this case
being so coldly and objectively examined. I know that this is how law
must work, but to hear the words "defile" (the French word for rape) and
decapitation being used by the defense like common household words
seemed somehow wrong. I understand the court is not the place for a
purely emotional argument, but the cold bureaucracy of the proceedings
seemed ill fit and unnatural.

Even worse, however, when the prosecution was rebutting the claims of
the appellant, and in fact describing the many crimes this man
committed, I saw a smirk on the appellants face. I later confirmed that
this was not just my imagination with a lawyer from Seattle Washington
who was attending the case with his son. He was smirking! The whole
thing felt like a farce.

I indeed later found out that it was, to some extent, a farce. After
being sentenced and finally sent away, these men are put in prisons in
Rwanda or whatever other country is willing to take them into prison.
These are often overcrowded and would not compare to the confinement
standards of the UN. The longer these men stay before the judge and
court, the better their lives are.

Complications

The Rwanda situation is not simple however. Following the case, I had
the opportunity to talk to a French Press agent who is a main
correspondent concerning the tribunals. He disclosed to me some of the
complications with the proceedings.

There originally was talk of reconciliation when the tribunals began.
This is no longer being considered. A man who is sentenced is often not
welcome back in Rwanda even as a prisoner. If a man is acquitted, the
same is true. They also are not welcome in other African countries. One
of the few places that will accept them is France, which causes its own
diplomatic issues.

Furthermore, it was not only the Hutu's who committed war crimes. The
Tutsi's did as well. The current president of Rwanda, however, has
control over all the witnesses. Should the UN indict any Tutsi's then
there would be no more witnesses. The genocide, while terrible, was not
one sided. Being painted as it is, however, by media, film and the fact
that only Hutus are being tried and convicted, one can see how this will
be a point of future tension. Reconciliation will fail.

Following the trial, I was taken out to lunch by a Seattle environmental
law lawyer named Gerry Pollet with his 10 yr old son, Hank. Hank shares
the same dislike for all food that I had as a kid. For lunch he ordered
spaghetti, butter and cheese, still a favorite dish of mine. It was
great to bond with another person from the North West.