In Memory of the Acquitted and victims of selective justice and impunity

Today, delegations from some world powers and the principals of the International Residual Mechanism for International Courts and Tribunals (IRMCT) are in Kigali, Rwanda to express regrets for their role in failing Rwandans of all ethnicities in time of need in April 1994. The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) established the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda by UNSC Res. 955 (1994) of 8 November 1994, to prosecute persons responsible for genocide and other serious violations of international humanitarian law committed in the territory of Rwanda and Rwandan citizens responsible for genocide and other such violations committed in the territory of neighbouring states between 1 January 1994 and 31 December 1994 and to this end, adopted the Statute of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.

The Statute of the Tribunal criminalised the following crimes: Article 2(1)(2)(3), Genocide, Article 3 (a)-(i), Crimes against humanity, Article 4, (a)-(h) Violations of Article 3 common to the Geneva Convention and of Additional Protocol ii.

The Security Council adopted Resolution 1534 (2004) at its 4935th meeting on the March 26, 2004 and affirmed in Article 2, “the necessity of trials of persons indicted by the ICTR and reiterates its call on all states, especially Rwanda, Kenya, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to intensify cooperation with and render all necessary assistance to the ICTR, including investigating of the Rwandan Patriotic Army and efforts to bring Felicien Kabuga and all other indictees of the ICTR to surrender to the ICTR” (emphasis added).

The expression of regret by the international community on this day, will be hypocritical and even hurtful if it fails to truthfully and faithful present an account of the accountability mechanism which was established by the United Nations Security Council to investigate and prosecute the perpetrators of the enumerated crimes under Articles 2—4 of the Statute of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. Can the Security Council and the International Community, realistically state that the ICTR realized the mandate which it was entrusted by the UNSC, in particular, resolution 1534 by which the ICTR was mandated to investigate the Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA) and to bring Felicien Kabuga and all other indictees of the ICTR to surrender to the ICTR? If this mandate was not realised, then what went wrong? In this regard, international justice at the ICTR may be said to be selective victor’s justice and a fig leaf of impunity. The expression of remorse on this day therefore may be said to be incomplete or farcical.

The next issue which must be addressed, is the fact that persons who were wrongfully charged for the serious violations of international humanitarian law defined in the Statute of the Tribunal and who were acquitted after several years of detention for crimes they did not commit, are till date prisoners of the United Nations system, held under house arrest in Niamey Niger Republic. They suffered the stigma of being characterised and prosecuted for atrocity crimes they did not commit and acquitted but not free. Genuine remorse can only be meaningful when the memories of all the victims are honoured without stigmatisation and affixing an ethnic tag on alleged perpetrators, including persons whose names were cleared in an international justice mechanism after serving sentences for crimes they did not commit. Taring everyone with an ethnic brush of criminality must be condemned.

Today,6 of April 2024, is a day which the United Nations and the International Community should be rendering an account of the measures they took for the enthronement of the international role of law for the sake of all the victims and for the sake of our shared humanity, so that never again should such crimes be committed. I am afraid, that the mere expression of regret is insufficient. It must be accompanied by justice for all the victims with accompanying measures of stopping the madness of impunity which has claimed millions of lives in the Great Lakes region and the East of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The international rule of law must assert and protect the sanctity of life for all.

Chief Charles A. Taku is an international lawyer before International courts and Tribunals. With Co-counsel Beth Lyons, he obtained the acquittal of Major Francois -Xavier Nzuwonemeye the commander of the Reconnaissance Battalion of then former Rwanda Army on appeal at the ICTR. Major Nzuwonemeye was wrongly charged with the killing of 10 UNIMAR Belgian soldiers, killing the Prime Minister Agathe Uwilingiyimana, and the shelling and killing of civilians and patients at the Kigali Hospital CHK. Despite his acquittal, he is held under house arrest in Niamey Niger Republic as a prisoner of the UN system.