Rwandan President Paul Kagame

RWANDA 'TO SCRAP DEATH PENALTY'

January 19, 2007: Rwanda's cabinet has voted to scrap the death penalty, Justice Minister Tharcisse Karugarama says. He said if the legislation is approved by parliament, those on death-row would instead serve life in prison.
The change would enable countries which arrest genocide suspects but which object to capital punishment to extradite them to Rwanda. Some 800,000 Tutsis and Hutu moderates were slaughtered during the country's 100-day genocide in 1994. Most high profile genocide cases have been tried at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) in Tanzania, but frustrated at its slow process, Rwanda wants suspects transferred to face trail at home.
The justice ministry has been holding public consultations around the country about dropping the death penalty. "The consultations that we have held since October showed us that Rwandans favour the abolition of the punishment," Mr Karugarama said. (Sources: BBC, 19/01/2007)