Genocide trials in Rwanda

RWANDAN genocide suspects will stand trial before their neighbours in community courts formed to speed up the prosecution of tens of thousands of people accused of taking part in the government-orchestrated slaughter in 1994.

Thousands of the community courts, called gacaca, have been investigating cases over the past three years, and yesterday marked the start of trials in 118 of the courts, said Johnston Busingye, from the justice ministry.

“Gacaca is a massive enterprise,” he said. “We needed to do a lot of footwork to get ourselves ready.”