More than 22 000 Rwandan prisoners, most of them suspects in the 1994 genocide, began returning home on Monday after undergoing a three-month ”re-education” course and spending several years in jail.
”It’s happening all over the country,” said Jean-Baptiste Habyarimana, the chairperson of the National Unity and Reconciliation Committee.
All those who have been provisionally released will eventually face trial but most have already been behind bars for periods at least as long as the sentences for which they are liable. Between prison and this week’s release, they were gathered in 18 ”solidarity camps” across Rwanda, receiving training aimed at easing their return to the community.
Rwanda’s overcrowded jails still house 90 000 prisoners, 90% of whom are suspected of having taken part in the genocide, which claimed the lives of up to a million Tutsis and moderate Hutus who were opposed to the orchestrated ethnic cleansing campaign.
In Gishamvu camp, 90km southwest of the capital, about 1 230 detainees began to be released on Monday afternoon. They emerged from the camp in groups of about a dozen, their belongings perched on their heads, official authorisations to leave clutched in their hands. Some walked quickly, as if afraid of being called back. There was no sign of hostility. Most of the former prisoners returned home on foot, some had rented bicycles, while groups of children watched the proceedings.
Their re-education consisted of lessons about the history of Rwanda, health, civic duties and about the ”Gacaca”, grassroot courts that have been set up across the country to try most of suspects in the genocide.
”They taught us that there were no more Hutus, no more Tutsis, no more Twas (Pygmies) and that we were all Rwandans,” said Verediaho Mukankaka, one of the former detainees.
”I am not afraid. I am really very happy. And I want to say sorry to the family of the man I killed,” said Vincent Kanyamuhanda (54) as he set off to rejoin his wife and five
children in a nearby village.
Most of those released here have already served between six and eight and half years in jail, without being tried. They will remain free until their cases come up at their nearest Gacaca court. The head of the camp, Clement Kalisa, was optimistic about their return to civilian life.
”The camp changed them and I think they will live peacefully with others, their families and neighbours,” he said.
Before the camp’s doors opened on Monday afternoon, some women waited outside for their relatives. Forty-something Marie Mukeshimana, her bare feet swollen in the morning chill, had walked 20km to fetch her husband, who had been in jail for the last six years. Next to her, Therese (60) came to get her son.
”I am really happy,” she said.
Asked what crimes their loved ones had committed, they grew more taciturn.
”We’ve never talked about that,” said Therese. ‒ Sapa-AFP