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President Kagame calls for openness and truth

The Kwibuka24 commemoration period is for 100 days and will end on July 6.

According to Julienne Uwacu, the Sports and Culture Minister, there will be different activities conducted during remembrance week, including daily sensitisationprogrammes at village level to discuss and educate Rwandans, especially the youth, about the genocide and the importance of unity and peace. The commemoration period is being held under the theme; `Remember, Unite, and Renew”.

Meanwhile, Dr Jean Damascene Bizimana, the Executive Secretary of the National Commission for the Fight against Genocide (CNLG), has said it is especially important that the young generation understand what happened in 1994 as one of ways to fight genocide and genocide ideology.

He said some of the perpetrators of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi are being wrongly released from jail before completing their sentences and that their prison terms were reduced.  This, he said, was a big problem as “these people were released without consulting the government”.

He says some international judges are giving lesser penalties to the top genociders and pointed at a recent court decision that reduced the penalty of Col. Theoneste Bagosora from life to 35 years. The official added that of the 77 genocide cases, 66 perpetrators were convicted, while 16 were released before finishing their penalties, which he termed as a “great challenge and impunity” to the fight against genocide.

In a related development, Bizimana lauded efforts that are geared at supporting the fight against genocide and the genocide ideology, including Pope Francis’ apology on the Catholic Church’s involvement in the 1994 genocide against Tutsi, and initiatives by the African Union to institute laws to fight genocide ideology.

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