Genocide Trials of Youths to Be Sped Up

Rwanda, responding to an international outcry, says it will speed up the trials of more than 4,000 minors in detention for their alleged involvement in the country’s 1994 genocide. “The Rwandan government has decided to give priority to the trials of minors in speeding up trial proceedings,” Justice Minister Jean de Dieu Mucyo said in Kigali, the capital. Most of the youngsters are being held alongside adult suspects in violation of international conventions on children’s rights. Rwanda says it has simply lacked the resources to organize quick trials for the young suspects. More than 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus were slain by Hutu extremists during the genocide.