Rwandan jails are holding 38,933 people accused of crimes committed during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.This was revealed on Thursday by the Minister of Internal Security, Musa Fazil Harelimana, during a press conference. He added that 36,581 of the convicts were male.
Rwandan jails are holding 38,933 people accused of crimes committed during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.
This was revealed on Thursday by the Minister of Internal Security, Musa Fazil Harelimana, during a press conference. He added that 36,581 of the convicts were male.
The minister said that 1,200 suspects, among them 70 female, are still awaiting trial.
Harelimana said that the country’s prisons currently hold 22,700 inmates on other charges not related to the Genocide.
In general, the number of prisoners reduced from 83,000 in 2003 to 62, 000 in 2009.
The government also shut down three of the 16 prisons.
Harelimana attributed the achievements in the dispensation of justice to government’s commitment to reform the judiciary.
In a related matter, the minister stated that the programme where convicts serve their time doing community work in lieu of imprisonment (TIG) had grossed Rwf 16.5bn, and that over 100 police officers have been dismissed from the force since last year.
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