Lawyers and activists have welcomed news that the Rwandan judiciary will start rolling out the plea bargain criminal procedure by October this year. A plea bargain is any agreement in a criminal case between the prosecutor and the defendant where the latter agrees to plead guilty to a particular charge in return for a lenient sentence. Speaking to The New Times, lawyers and activists said the move will, in many ways, boost the delivery of justice in the country. Here, John Mudakikwa, a lawyer and human rights activist who is the Executive Director of the Centre for Rule of Law Rwanda (CERULAR), said he expects plea bargaining to expedite investigations and trials. “When a suspect agrees to enter a plea bargain agreement, they freely provide information which can assist the investigators deal with the case faster, since they have credible evidence to present to the court. This, among other advantages, reduces the cost of investigations and court procedures,” he said. “We think that the quality of justice may improve under plea bargain, especially due to better access to evidence. You know, when people enter a plea bargain, they can provide more information about other suspects involved in crimes - especially in case of organised crime,” he added. He noted that it will also be a good step towards reducing the number of suspects that are sent to pre-trial detention. “It is one of the ways for having more suspects prosecuted while not in custody. One of the challenges we are having is that there are a lot of people on pre-trial detention, and some of the reasons for this is that there is fear that they will escape or interfere with the investigations. However, when people enter a plea bargain, such risks are minimised, so, more people can be tried while out of custody,” he said. Innocent Muramira, a private lawyer based in Kigali also praised the move, saying it assists lawyers in their quest to get better outcomes for their clients. “Any defence lawyer in any case would work to get his or her client exonerated or given a lenient sentence,” he said. For Jean Paul Ibambe, a lawyer working as the Capacity Development Officer at The Legal Aid Forum, also welcomed the move, noting that it will reduce backlogs of cases in courts, as well as overcrowding in prisons. “What we think is that it will not only deliver proper justice but will also contribute to the reduction of backlogs in our courts and reduce overcrowding in our prisons. As of recent the overcrowding in our prisons was about 126 percent,” he said. According to the judiciary, during the first year of the implementation of plea bargaining, the procedure will be rolled out in five intermediate courts, after which it will be scaled up. These courts are: Gasabo, Nyarugenge, Gicumbi, Muhanga, and Musanze Intermediate courts. In the pilot phase, the procedure will be applied to only two crimes: assault and theft.
