How one woman survived the Rwandan Genocide, testified against her tormentor, and changed legal history: Part II

 

 

Taba commune, photo by Blakely and Lloyd: http://blakelylloyd.com/main.php

 Part II: “Never ask me ever again what a Tutsi women tastes like.”

The following is a retelling of the experiences of one survivor of the Rwandan genocide, “Witness JJ” as first published in Elizabeth Neuffer’s “The Key to my Neighbor’s House.” Supplemental texts include: “Leave None to Tell the Story” by HRW, “, “We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families” by Philip Gourevitch and “A Problem from Hell” by Samantha Power

At first glance, Jean-Paul Akayesu made a rather unconvincing villain and poster boy for the Rwandan genocide. He was not a machete-carrying killer, nor was he one of the architects of the genocide. With his pitch perfect French, obvious intelligence and debonair manners, he seemed more of a fit for a diplomatic convention than the first man to be tried before an international criminal court for genocide.

Furthermore, it would not be much of a stretch to say that the entire system designed to bring Akayesu and the other perpetrators of the genocide to justice was falling apart at the seams. If the wheels of justice turn slowly, the wheels of justice for victims of the Rwandan genocide at times seemed to stop completely.

A report issued by the UN Inspector General criticized mismanagement and corruption at the tribunal, concluding that “not a single administrative area operated effectively.” After the register, deputy prosecutor and others resigned, the prosecution of Akayesu was led by a Haitian-American, Pierre Prosper. The thirty-four year old, like Akayesu spoke fluent French. Furthermore, in contrast to many other tribunal attorneys, Prosper had six years of trial experience under his belt.

For all of the early stumbling, the prosecution began to build a solid case against Akayesu and showed how a man who initially resisted the genocide, betrayed the trust of Taba’s Tutsis.

 A member of a moderate Hutu opposition party, Akayesu assembled the villagers and told them to resist the genocide. When the Interhamwe attacked, the Hutus in Taba chased them away. Akayesu gave his police permission to kill the gangs attacking the Tutsi.

So what happened? In Akayesu’s case, it was a simple calculation. Participating in the genocide was good for his career, it would further his standing. Akayesu began dressing in military garb. He called on the Hutu population to kill their Tutsi neighbors, he ordered the systematic execution of the intellectuals and stood by as the houses were burned to the ground.

The aftershocks of the genocide were still alive in Taba. Survivors, killers and bystanders lived side by side. Protection of witnesses was another issue. In the exhaustive review of the Rwanda genocide and the aftermath, “Leave None to Tell the Story” describes the fear of retaliation faced by both prosecution and defense witnesses.

Witness JJ in Taba personally knew of one man who talked with tribunal investigators and was later murdered. Miraculously, Witness JJ’s older children whom she became separated from in the early days of the genocide, survived. Her youngest son, whom she handed to a Hutu family for his protection, was killed. Ten days before she was to testify against Akayesu, Witness JJ gave birth to a son by a man whose Hutu wife fled the genocide.

When the ambulance came for Witness JJ and her son, the people of Taba believed that mother and son were ill as a result of a post-birth complication and being rushed to the hospital. In actuality, they were going to Arusha, Tanzania, where Witness JJ would testify against Akayesu.

To fully appreciate the bravery of Witness JJ by testifying about the rapes, beating and torture she suffered, some background information is needed.

Despite being one of the poorest countries in the world in 1994, Rwanda had good roads-the best in Central Africa, high church attendance, a low crime rate and steady improvements in health care and education. Authority was also highly respected. So when government officials, intellectuals and popular culture and media personalities encouraged people to participate in the genocide their words carried weight. In small communities like Taba, men like Akayesu held authority far beyond that of a minor government official. Akayesu, set the standards for Taba, politically, socially, economically-and morally. Women especially were expected to obey authority, as a child, Witness JJ remembered hearing a Rwandan proverb, “in a home where the women speaks, there is discord.”

Now Witness JJ was testifying in an international court against Jean-Paul Akayesu. Before Witness JJ testified, another woman, Witness H, described the rapes she and the other Tutsi women endured at the Commune and how Akayesu would have been able to prevent them-but he chose not to.

Witness JJ took the stand wearing her favorite blouse and a patterned skirt. As she took the stand, she was still afraid of Akayesu, but as she began telling her story to Pierre Prosper, her confidence grew. Witness JJ described the rape of Taba’s Tutsi women, and of her own gang rape in the Commune, “it was very difficult for me… to put my two legs together, to put my thighs together.”

It was describing the rapes that Witness JJ uttered one of the most memorable phrases of the tribunal. It was a phrase that Akayesu uttered as he oversaw the rapes of the Tutsi women. Speaking to militia members who just raped the women, Akayesu told them “never ask me ever again what a Tutsi women tastes like, tomorrow they will be killed.”

With that testimony, Witness JJ directly linked Akayesu to the rapes and murders in Taba.

Her confidence soared after she told her story, Akayesu, whose very presence scared her when she first walked into court, did not faze her during his cross examination. As she ended her testimony Witness JJ told one of the tribunal judges, “I was able to get close to him. I talked to him directly, face to face. So I believe I am responsible, coming to give evidence of his evil deeds in the Taba commune…When someone is leading killers, assassins, he is also a killer, also a murdered, also an assassin. We were extermination in his presence.”

The testimony after Witness JJ was further damaging for Akayesu, Witness KK told of how a twelve year old girl was stripped naked in front of Akayesu, who urged militia members to have sex with her. Witnesses OO, PP testified to the sexual slavery, rape and murder of the Tutsi women-just because they were Tutsi.

After the fifteen months, Akayesu’s trial ended. The tribunal found that genocide was committed in Taba, Akayesu participated in the genocide. Akayesu became the first person convicted of genocide by an international tribunal. The other landmark legal decision of the trial was the finding that the rapes that took place was an act of genocide. “Sexual violence was a step in the process of destruction of the Tutsi group, destruction of the spirit, of the will to live, and of life itself… the rapes of the Tutsi women in Taba were accompanied with the intent to kill those women.”

Back in Rwanda, Witness JJ heard over the radio Akayesu’s guilty verdict, guilty of genocide, guilty of rape, guilty of nine of the fifteen counts against him. Akayesu winced as the judges found him guilty of rape, Witness JJ smiled with satisfaction.

Jean-Paul Akayesu is currently serving a life sentence.

Pierre Prosper, the Prosecutor who convinced the trial tribunal for the first time to recognize rape as an act of genocide, is practicing law for the law firm and lobbying group, Arent Fox LLP.

Witness JJ, when Elizabeth Neuffer interviewed her for “The Key to My Neighbor’s House”, Witness JJ lived in a very dire conditions, a three-room home of mud and straw brick, with a dirt floor and tin roof. She focused on her children who survived, and not on the son who died, on the fact that she was still alive, not on her lingering health problems as a result of the rapes and beating. Her faith gives her strength.  “My faith in God helps to me to forget, but in some situations the devil is brought in front of me, and I remember things I was to forget.”