When the verdict against Dr. Sosth\u00e8ne Munyemana was read in a Paris courtroom, survivors in Tumba followed the news on small radios and phone screens. After thirty years, France\u2019s conviction of the former gynecologist once known locally as the \u201cdoctor of Tumba\u201d brought relief. However, it also reopened a painful question: who will repair what was destroyed?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe waited decades for a verdict,\u201d said one survivor, her voice steady but tired. \u201cNow we are told reparations exist only on paper. How can justice stop there?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The dilemma after justice<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n France\u2019s Court of Assizes sentenced Munyemana to 24 years in prison for genocide and crimes against humanity committed in Tumba in 1994. Some survivors testified through the help of Ibuka France and the Collectif des Parties Civiles pour le Rwanda (CPCR), which joined the trial as civil parties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yet, as in previous European genocide trials, the verdict brought no immediate compensation. Victims of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi who live outside France are not automatically eligible for court-ordered damages unless they were formally registered as civil parties. Even when reparations are granted, they are usually symbolic, often \u20ac1 per claimant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe ruling honors memory,\u201d said CPCR president Alain Gauthier in a press statement, \u201cbut for survivors in Rwanda, material justice is still missing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n How reparations work and why few reach Rwanda<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Under European law, especially in France and Belgium, genocide suspects can be prosecuted under the principle of universal jurisdiction if they reside in those countries. Victims or NGOs may join proceedings as parties civiles<\/em> to seek damages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Courts may order moral or material reparations, but the amounts depend on the accused\u2019s means. Most convicts are indigent; the awards therefore remain symbolic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Past cases illustrate the pattern:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n In the 2007 Belgian trial of Bernard Ntuyahaga, the court awarded a total of \u20ac540,000 in reparations to 21 Rwandan civil parties, survivors of the crimes he committed, including the murder of Belgian peacekeepers and Rwandan civilians. The court also granted nearly \u20ac90,000 to the families of the Belgian peacekeepers. While these amounts were significant, enforcement proved challenging, and some later reports listed slightly different figures, reflecting the symbolic nature of the reparations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The legal bridge: exequatur<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Legal experts point to one possible route for Rwandan survivors: exequatur, a procedure that allows a foreign judgment to be recognized and enforced in another country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou can have justice in Paris but need exequatur in Kigali to make it real,\u201d explains Emmanuel Sehene Ruvugiro, a veteran Rwandan judicial reporter who covered both Arusha and European genocide trials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Under Articles 509\u2013509-9 of the French Code of Civil Procedure and Law No. 22\/2018 on Civil, Commercial, Labour and Administrative Procedure in Rwanda, a Rwandan court can recognize a French decision if it respects due process and does not violate public order. Once granted, that recognition gives the judgment the same force as a local ruling, allowing survivors to claim damages or, if any assets exist, to enforce payment within Rwanda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, so far, few genocide-related cases have reached that stage. The process requires certified translations, legal representation, and identifiable assets, rare in these prosecutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What the law says, and what survivors feel<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n International frameworks support the survivors\u2019 right to reparation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Despite these provisions, survivors say the distance between courtroom and community remains wide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMy children ask if France will build our house again,\u201d said a Tumba widow softly. \u201cI tell them: France gave us truth but not yet repair.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n A call for cooperation<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Ibuka France and CPCR are now urging both Rwandan and French authorities to establish a clear framework so that reparations ordered abroad can reach victims at home, possibly through a joint trust fund or bilateral enforcement agreement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Legal scholars argue that the upcoming civil proceedings linked to the Munyemana conviction could test this cooperation. Rwandan lawyers suggest survivors should compile certified copies of the French judgment and pursue recognition petitions before the High Court, a move that would at least anchor the moral victory within Rwanda\u2019s own legal record.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cJustice must travel the same road pain travelled,\u201d Sehene noted. \u201cOtherwise, it stops at the border.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The road ahead<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n For now, Tumba\u2019s survivors meet periodically. They speak of education for orphans, medical care, and roofs still waiting for repair. \u201cWe wanted the world to hear us, and it did,\u201d said one elder. \u201cNow we want to feel that verdict in our lives.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Their hope, like their patience, endures: that a legal phrase pronounced in a Paris courtroom \u2018justice est rendue\u2019<\/em> will one day echo as truth in Tumba\u2019s hills.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When the verdict against Dr. Sosth\u00e8ne Munyemana was read in a Paris courtroom, survivors in Tumba followed the news on … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2933,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2932","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-justice-rights","category-latest","latest_post"],"yoast_head":"\n\n
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