English
Kinyarwanda
About one hundred judicial police officers and prosecutors from Gasabo and Nyarugenge judicial territories held one day meeting on September 2 in Kigali to synchronize their criminal investigation activities and ensure fair justice.
They exhausted areas that should be addressed in varied dossiers forwarded from police to prosecution.
While speaking to participants, ACP Elias Mwesigye, the Regional Police Commander, central, urged them to harmonise their activities and leave no room for criminals to elude justice.
Gaspard Nyangezi Rudatinya, the chief prosecutor for Nyarugenge intermediate court explained and gave an insight on the new law regulating the community mediators – Abunzi – which was enacted this year.
“The enacted law regulating Abunzi is intended to strengthen their powers and reinforce the justice system in Rwanda,” Rudatinya explained.
The new law gave the mediators more power to deal with cases valued at Rwf5 million, up from the maximum of Rwf3 million previously, deal with cases related to defamation, noise pollution, deceit through conning, and failure to pay for goods after consumption.
They can also deal with cases that previously were handled by Gacaca courts like recovering property looted or destroyed during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi and those related to land and livestock disputes.
“The mandate of prosecution and that of police is interlinked and a mistake or failure in one institution affects the other and this undermines the criminal judicial system in our country,” Rudatinya said.
He urged them to always work together on cases to exhaust all angles that criminals can use to walk free.
