MICT Prosecutor Serge Brammertz and Prosecutor General of Rwanda Richard Muhumuza are laying wreaths at the Gisozi Genocide Memorial Centre, Kigali, Rwanda.
Statement of Prosecutor Serge Brammertz at the Gisozi Memorial
Arusha, 21 April – As Prosecutor of the MICT, together with my entire Office, we join Rwanda and the world in remembering and commemorating the victims of the Rwandan genocide. In just 100 days, hundreds of thousands of innocents were senselessly murdered, tortured, raped and forced to flee their home. These atrocities were directed by a government that sought to destroy its citizens. The perpetrators, who should have protected the people, instead attacked and victimized the most vulnerable.
What the survivors seek, and what the victims deserve, is justice – to see those most responsible for these crimes judged and punished.
The ICTR Office of the Prosecutor secured 61 convictions for the Genocide, including senior political, military and civil leaders. Your judicial authorities are currently prosecuting more. But the work is not done.
8 MICT fugitives remain at large, including men like Felicien Kabuga and Protais Mpiranya. My Office will redouble our efforts to bring them to justice. We will also provide support to our Rwandan colleagues in tracking the more than 500 fugitives they have indicted. As long as suspected genocidaires remain at large, it is very difficult for the victims and survivors to move forward.
I call on all States in the region and the international community to fully support these efforts and provide all necessary assistance.
The truth of what happened during the Genocide has been repeatedly established by the ICTR’s judgments. Yet today, some continue to deny the truth, and the ideology of genocide has not yet been extinguished.
We must clearly and firmly reject genocide denial at all times and in all places. And we must teach future generations the dangers of genocide ideology so they do not have to suffer as this country did.
Together, all States must actively promote memorials like this one, and they must ensure that everyone is taught the truth of what happened here 22 years ago. Only with the truth, justice and education can there be sustainable peace and reconciliation.
