Rwanda: Gacaca tribunal Photo

Photographer’s Note

"Copyright © – Attila Szili.
The reproduction, publication, modification, transmission or exploitation of any work contained herein for any use, personal or commercial, without my prior written permission is strictly prohibited. All rights reserved."

In 1996 a genocide law was adopted in Rwanda, creating four categories of crime and associated punishments, ranging from particularly cruel behaviour (category I) to simple property offences (category IV). Trials started by the end of the same year and by 2001, approximately 3,500 persons had been judged.
The quality of the trials has improved over the years but serious problems remained, like the corruption of judges, intimidation of witnesses, absence of a defence counsel, and political pressure. A second major problem is quantitative because it would take more than a century to finish the trials of the 130,000 persons who are imprisoned, often in horrendous conditions. More people accused of participation in the genocide die in Rwanda’s prisons each year than are judged. Out of these problems grew the idea of transforming a traditional Rwandan community-based conflict resolution mechanism called gacaca into a tool for judging those accused of participation in the genocide and the massacres.
The system:
Throughout the country gacaca tribunals have been created composed of persons of integrity elected by the inhabitants of cells, sectors, districts and provinces. Each prisoner (except those accused of category I crimes) will be brought before the tribunal in the community where the accused is supposed to have committed a crime. The entire community will be present and act as a general assembly, discussing the alleged act or acts, providing testimony and counter-testimony, argument and counterargument.
In the first phase, at the lowest level (the cell), gacacas will categorize all prisoners using the legal categories established in the 1996 genocide law.
In the second phase, gacaca tribunals at different levels will judge the accused, with each level having competence to judge appeals from the level below.
One of the innovative elements of the gacaca law is the confession procedure. Prisoners who confess and ask for forgiveness can receive dramatic reductions in penalties. Finally, the gacaca law greatly simplifies the reparation procedure for survivors of genocide. Part of the gacaca proceedings consists of a detailed listing of all the damages suffered by each survivor like destruction of property, physical harm or loss of relatives and providers. When the procedure is completed the claimants receive a statement of their losses and can use this to receive reparations from a public fund.
In a few words the aim of the gacaca system is:
- to speed up the trials and empty the prisons
- to involve the community in establishing the truth and promoting reconciliation.

miszka, bostankorkulugu, holmertz, edytungkal, Gerrit, ocskaymarci, MikiM, vincz, Vato_Law, parbo, paololg, manada, Graal, mauricet, Jakab, dip, Cricri, cyrrhus, stego, tomescuc, Angshu, devimeuxbe, joscel1975 ha puntuado esta nota como útil.

Critiques | Translate

bostankorkulugu (33714) 2008-04-09 2:34

a very informative note and a nice documentary shot to go along with it... the place looks like heaven, hard to believe that it was like "hell" a decade ago...
good to have you back attila...

korkut

holmertz (9793) 2008-04-09 2:45

Hello Attila,
A very interesting picture. Disregarding its terrible background, the photo as such is actually quite pretty, nice colours, the men seated neatly in diagonal lines, the man in red and white breaking the colour scheme is the double focus of the picture. Since I have followed Rwanda closely for many years as a journalist this picture is even more interesting to me. It annoys me very much that I haven't had the opportunity to go there.
Best wishes,
Gert

edytungkal (4519) 2008-04-09 8:40

Yes i see both picture and your note are interesting and very informative. Really a contrast situation if we read the story decade ago, maybe it represented by the movie with title 'Hotel Rwanda'....
very good documenter shot....glad to see you back Attila and wish you all the best....tfs

daniel

Gerrit (35937) 2008-04-09 9:46

Hi Atilla,
Impressive story and well illustrated. An open air court.
Good series of this teared up country.
Regards, gerrit

ocskaymarci (2508) 2008-04-09 9:53

Szia Attila!
Igencsak érdekes képpel tértél vissza! Ilyet még nem láttam, de hol is láthattam volna! ;)
Remekül mutatod be a bírósági ülést, amit ugyan kint tartanak a szabadban, de minden egyéb megvan egy "normális" üléshez.
Rendkívül tetszik a perspektíva, amit választottál, a kompozíció, hogy belevetted a nézőke is. Kiváló a kép minősége, de a színvilág is az élénkség ellenére teljesen természetesen hat!
Gratulálok, ez mestermunka!
Üdv,
Marci :)
u.i.: Új keretezési stílus?? ;)

MikiM (1916) 2008-04-09 10:09

Szia Attila!
Tetszik ahogy bemutatod ezt a gyűlést - érdekes látni a csoportdinamikát a szép zöld mezőben.
Gratula!
Miklós

vincz (19043) 2008-04-09 12:53

Very good documentary shot with detailed note. Interesting way of handling justice, tribunal in the open air.

parbo (11000) 2008-04-09 14:56

Hello Attila,

A sad story and excellent information in your note. I'm feeling that you are planning for a new series, informative one! Good to hear you and hope you come back.

Friendly Regards,

Ertugrul

manada (6237) 2008-04-09 15:10

Ciao grande Attila
bello apprendere certe cose, ottima nota!
Foto esplicativa con un gran Pov. Bello rivederti, buon tutto!
Freddy

paololg (13895) 2008-04-09 15:12

ciao Attila,
sono rimasto impressionato leggendo le tue note. La fotografia parla da sola, non occorre commentarla. Grazie per farci partecipi di queste cose, che normalmente i giornali e le televisioni dimenticano spesso. La fotografia, fortumatamente, è anche questo, non solo tramonti e paesaggi. Bravo.
Ciao, a presto
Paolo.

Graal (58267) 2008-04-10 1:48

Jó napot Attila,
unusual scene and unusual place. An interesting informations about judge and tribunal. Very good work. I like it.
Gr., Aleksander

Vato_Law (11682) 2008-04-10 13:41

Hello Attila,
Surely not the most attractive photo of yours but along with the note it makes complete sense and it turns interesting.
Although I think the reconciliation they are trying to get is more utopic than comunism was (I hope I don't start a big discussion with this comparison), but honnestly do you think one guy will reconciliate with the guy being judged which 'just' killed one of his relatives?
Looking at the photo I remember one documentary I've seen sometime ago, in Nigeria, where a supposed 'judge' was also trying to solve small conflicts between the inhabitants of a small town.
I can tell you, that it was absolutely amazing how he solved some of them... I have full respect for all the religions and races, but that guy was absolutely hilarious, to say the least.
This simple judgement area, is kind of similar to that one, although what is being judged here is much more difficult to solve out.
Cheers.
Paulo

toto (18731) 2008-04-10 14:50

Bonsoir,
belle photo de ces gens très attentifs, belle scène bien prise.

Amitiés Thomas

Jakab (3472) 2008-04-10 14:54

Szia Attila!
Ami az esztétikai értékelést illeti, én Paulóval értek egyet: szerintem sem ez a legjobb képed. (Ez esemény, nem ceremónia, itt nem a látvány a lényeg, hanem a részvevők érzelmi reakciója, ahhoz viszont látni kellene az arcokat, gesztusokat. Persze, hogy ezt hogy lehet hitelesen megcsinálni - átutazóban valószínűleg sehogy. Ahhoz ismerni kellene a történet mindkét - vagy több - változatát, magukat a szereplőket, végigasszisztálni a drámai előadást. Abban nincs kétségem, hogy szenzációsan meg tudtad volna oldani, de talán ráment volna az egész utazásod.)
Viszont: szerintem az egyik legérdekesebb képed, hiszen egy nagyon izgalmas, világra szóló kísérletről tudósít. (Itt viszont már nem értek egyet Paulóval, méláztam is rajta, hogy angolul írjak-e.) A tapasztalat ugyanis az, hogy az emberiség újabbkori kataklizmáit az okozó/részvevő népek a (nyugat)németek kivételével nem voltak képesek feldolgozni. Anélkül pedig se megértés, se katarzis, se megbékélés. Lehet, hogy az európaiakhoz hasonlóan szegény tusziknak és hutuknak sem fog sikerülni, de nekem nagyon tetszik a kísérlet. Ha szerencséjük van, közmegegyezést tudnak elérni abban, kit milyen veszteség ért, és ki milyen kárt okozott. És éppen ez az a két kérdés, amiben az európaiak (kivéve a nyugatnémeteket) nem képesek egyezségre jutni se országok között, se országon belül - mindannyiunkat elvakítanak a saját sérelmeink, a bűnöket mindig mások (vagy elődeik) követték el, mi (vagy elődeink) csak jogosan megtoroltunk vagy védekeztünk. Lehet, hogy egyszer még az elárult, cserben hagyott Ruandától fog tanulni Európa. (És ezen az sem változtat, hogy ők sem bölcs belátásból, hanem gyakorlati kényszerből vetették be a gacaca intézményét.) Én drukkolok nekik.
Üdv
Laci
P.S.: Olvasom, azért hanyagoltad a Te-t, mert berágtál az adminra. Lássuk be, ez hülyeség. Ők bosszantottak fel, a képeid meg nekem (nekünk) hiányoztak. Ráadásul én nem is tekintem a keretet a kép részének - végtére is a bor sem a pohártól jó.

dip (12690) 2008-04-12 13:33

Hi Attila,
beautiful picture and interesting note,very good captured and composed!
Greetings,
Dimitris.

Cricri (43304) 2008-04-13 0:04

Hi Attila,
Une note triste et intéressante qui accompagne cette image bien présenter, compliment
Good sunday for you
cricri

stego (22376) 2008-04-16 18:17

Hi Attila,
Great value as a documentary, a nice POV, great clarity and sharpness. I had never heard of such tribunals. I only hope that they work right. Like one can infer from your note, it's very bad if those horrendous crimes go unpunished, and I understand that the high numbers of crimes makes it impossible to trial every case in 'normal' tribunals, however I wonder how just can these popular courts can be.
Regards, José.

tomescuc (2837) 2008-05-10 21:47

Hi Attila,
Besides the well done photo, I appreciate the background and details given.
tfs,
CT

Angshu (33877) 2008-05-11 0:29

Hello Attila
Your note makes a fine read. The system reminds me of the old justice systems prevalent in our country & still persisting in various villages. A picture which tells a lot about something I didn't know & a fine photograph to boot. Good work my friend!
Best Regards
Angshu

joscel1975 (489) 2009-08-22 4:30

Hi Atilla:

Nice capture of moments of people. It gives strong message to everyone. Thanks for sharing.

Josh

Photo Information

Copyright: Attila Szili (atus) (15476)
Genre: Gente
Medium: Color
Date Taken: 2008-02-12
Categories: Eventos
Camera: Nikon D80, Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 G ED AF-S VR, Hoya 72mm SuperHMC Pro 1 UV
Exposición: f/8, 1/1000 segundos
More Photo Info: view
Versión de la foto: Versión original
Date Submitted: 2008-04-09 1:59