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Stepping Forward For The Sake Of Justice

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Jean-Paul Akayesu in cutsody.

It’s been over 20 years since the genocide that took the lives of over one million Rwandans. Salt Lake City resident Ambassador Pierre-Richard Prosper led the legal team that successfully prosecuted the first case of rape as a war crime. He and his team’s work was featured in the documentary “The Uncondemned,” which was show Friday in Salt Lake City. I was recently able to sit down with Ambassador Prosper to talk about the events of 1994.

EH: “So, the first conviction for rape as a war crime was handed to a mayor. Who was this first person brought to justice and what were some of his crimes you were charged with investigating?”

PRP: “His name was Jean-Paul Akayesu and he was the mayor of a town. Interestingly enough, in Rwanda, the mayor is an extremely powerful position. I think you’ll see that a lot in the developing world where at that level it is an authority who is closest to the people. The people in the community look to that authority for guidance. In certain ways, the mayor is more powerful than the head of state because he had the full command and respect of the population. When we investigated him and brought him to trial, we were charging him with genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes, including killing, torture, rape, the list literally goes on.”

EH: “What kind of devastation does this do to a community such as the Tutsis that were targeted with rape?”

PRP: “That’s a very important question because the answer puts into context what rape really is. Rape not only is an act of torture and extreme violence, but it’s also an act designed to destroy. Not only does it destroy the victim herself—or himself for that matter—but it also destroys the fabric of the community. When you have mothers, sisters, or whomever that are being violated in the most horrific way, they’re being violated in public and it’s known, the impact that it has on the others in the community, whether they’re male or female, is traumatic. It continues to not only belittle, but also destroy.”

EH: “I’ve got to imagine also that in these circumstances there was also intimidation of witnesses.”

PRP: “There was plenty of intimidation. If you think about it, you’re dealing with a situation where a million people were killed. There’s no reason why they wouldn’t kill a witness. We saw witnesses being afraid and we actually had witnesses being killed before the start of our trial. It was an effort for us to persuade people to come forward and put themselves at further risk for the sake of justice.”

EH: “Ambassador Prosper, thank you so much.”

PRP: “Thank you for having me.”