Every year, especially during the period to commemorate the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, calls are made to the United Kingdom to ensure justice prevails on five men who masterminded the Genocide and have found a safe haven in the country. It was the case this year during the commemoration week but all these efforts – including similar calls by some British legislators – have yielded nothing and the men, whose indictments have been available for close to 20 years, remain free. When they were arrested in 2006, there was a sigh of relief for survivors of the genocide who hoped that the men – four of whom are former mayors in the then Gikongoro prefecture in southern Rwanda – would be held accountable for the atrocities they committed. This was however to be short-lived after judges in a 2009 ruling claimed that there was “a real risk they would suffer a flagrant denial of justice” if returned to Rwanda to face trial. Their extradition was then blocked and they were released and are now integral members if the British community. In their ruling, the judged invoked Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which safeguards the right to a fair trial. However, the European Court of Human and People’s Rights has on more than one occasion ruled that Rwandan judiciary meets all the required tenets in delivery of fair trial. Not just the European court but also individual countries, including the United States, The Netherlands, Sweden, Canada among others which have previously extradited Genocide suspects to Rwanda. The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda also made a determination that after a thorough inspection, the Rwandan judicial system meets the international standards, before the now defunct UN court transferred some of the suspects then in its custody to Rwanda for trial. After the extradition was blocked, the Rwandan judiciary requested that these men be tried in the United Kingdom, if authorities there thought they would not get fair trial, but this has also not been done. The only thing that Rwandans, especially survivors of the Genocide have been asking from the international community – which stood by as over a million people were killed – is to ensure perpetrators are brought to book. The United Kingdom however seems to have remained indifferent, nearly three decades later.
