Officials in the Rwandan capital of Kigali decided to hold a civilian trial examining the role of former Sen. Anastase Nzirasanaho in the 1994 genocide there. Nzirasanaho is classified in the “first category” of alleged planners of the genocide in Rwanda. He is also accused in the April 1994 murder of Theoneste Gafaranga, a leader of the rival Social Democratic Party.
Rwanda established its Gacaca (ga-cha-cha) courts as a system of community and grassroots legislative bodies that typically deal with village and familial disputes. The courts are presided over by community leaders and elders using traditional tribal customs and other forms of judicial authority. The Rwandan Gacaca has four categories for alleged perpetrators of the Rwandan genocide; planners, organizers and leaders; accomplices of voluntary homicide, perpetrators of bodily harm and perpetrators of crimes resulting in property damage. The Rwandan Gacaca heard its first case in March 2005.
This is very interesting. There was some commentary during Sen. John Kerry's presidential bid on how to deal with al Qaida suspects and others accused of plotting against the national interests of the United States. Kerry brought up the point that prior to Sept. 11, the civilian courts displayed the ability to prosecute suspected terrorists and the federal government was perfectly willing to use them. I think it was Ex parte Merryman, which dealt with the suspension of habeas during the Civil War, that referenced early uses of extra-judicial authority. In the early Supreme Court examinations of the Guantanamo detainee cases, the Justices emphasized that the history of U.S. constitutional law repeatedly forbade the use of extra-judicial processes to examine crimes so long as the civilian courts were open and functioning. The planners of the first WTC bombing, for example, were tried and sentenced by a civilian court and are biding their time in prison now, so why not use that system for the GITMO cases? I would speculate that the Bush administration will do that as his mea culpa evolves throughout the rest of 2008. How ironic it would be to base the judicial examination of suspected terrorists on a grassroots system in Rwanda.
