Internews screens documentary film

The Arusha-based Internews service last Friday screened a documentary film, “The Arusha Tapes” in Taba, Gitarama prefecture, south-central, Rwanda. According to the agency, the “attentive crowd murmured and gasped” when their former mayor, Jean-Paul Akayesu, appeared on the screen. Akayesu became the first man ever to be convicted of rape as a crime of genocide by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) in 1999. Internews said that the entire secondary school auditorium remained silent during the ten-minute of footage on Akayesu. It said that for most, this was the first opportunity for them to have had to witness parts of the trial and hear why Akayesu’s sentence holds so much importance. A moderated discussion session followed the screening of the documentary. “I was raped, became pregnant and now I am raising this six-year-old girl. When I watch this film, all the memories come back and I want to throw my child out of the house,” a woman said during the discussion. Internews has been screening the film since January, and will follow it with its first newsreel this month. The film documents the first six trials held at the ICTR and addresses questions on justice for Rwanda through the Tribunal, the country’s national courts and the community justice initiative - gacaca. The newsreel gives coverage of current trials in progress at the ICTR and in the Rwandan courts, as well as interviews with Rwandan government and Tribunal officials on questions of justice and reconciliation.