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	‘Children of genocide’ released from prison

At the Higher Institute of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry at the foot of the Misoko Mountain in Rwanda, 486 ‘children of genocide’ are being prepared for a life in freedom. After six years in prison the children are now being released without further punishment but it is hoped that they will have a key role to play as witnesses in the next stage of the justice process. Village hall trials, called gacacas, will be set up in which 115,000 adult killers will face the accusations of their own people.

Faustian, 13 years old at the time of the genocide in 1994 and now 19, describes his role in the killings:

“They said the Tutsis had killed the president. After that some guys started killing the Tutsis and singing songs about ‘cockroaches’. I didn’t kill anyone in the beginning, but then we caught Casian and we brought him home and they gave me a club. The boys I was with said I should kill Casian and get his trousers.

“I didn’t feel anything when I hit him. Everyone was doing it, and if you killed a Tutsi you were the first person to get the meat at night when they cooked a Tutsi cow. I didn’t see anything wrong with what I was doing.”

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