ICTR judges make a case for victim compensation

Judges at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) and its Appeals Court have requested that the UN Security Council amend the statute under which the ICTR is established in order to provide them with a mechanism by which they could compensate genocide victims and people wrongfully prosecuted or convicted. The proposal emerged from a review meeting last week, whose focus was on finding ways to speed up trials, the independent Hirondelle news agency reported. The judges also proposed that the Appeals Court should be given two more judges to help clear a backlog of cases, it said. “The Security Council has created an informal working group which should produce its conclusions quickly - that is, by the end of September or beginning of October,” Hirondelle quoted Appeals Court President Claude Jorda as saying. Compensation for victims, and an enhanced profile for the ICTR compared with the International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia (ICTY), are both long-standing demands of the Rwandan government, Hirondelle added. Meanwhile, the Cyangugu Court of First Instance in southwestern Rwanda on Friday sentenced 16 people to life imprisonment and 16 more to 20 years for genocide and crimes against humanity committed in Gapfunzo commune, Cyangugu, in 1994, Radio Rwanda reported.