RWANDA:Judge Erik Mose talks to Deaglán de Bréadúnabout being part of the Rwanda genocide tribunal
It's a long way from Oslo's chilly environs to the African temperatures of Arusha in northern Tanzania. But for Judge Erik Mose (pronounced "Moh-say"), the climate isn't the only difference.
He is also confronted by a range of crimes very different from what he was used to dealing with in his native Norway.
As president of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), Judge Mose is responsible, with 17 other colleagues, for establishing the guilt or innocence of senior figures accused of directing and/or perpetrating the horrific Rwanda genocide of 1994. Up to a million Tutsis and opponents of the regime were murdered by members of the Hutu majority.
Speaking on a visit to Dublin, where he attended a seminar hosted by the Institute for International Integration Studies at Trinity College, Judge Mose recalled that the tribunal hearings began in January 1997 and cases involving 34 persons have been finalised at this stage. There are another 25 in progress and eight persons are still awaiting trial. There have been 32 judgments so far - five acquittals and 27 convictions. Two more judgments will be delivered in the next six weeks.
Those who have been brought before the tribunal include former prime minister Jean Kambanda and 11 other government ministers, what Mose calls "the higher echelon of people in Rwanda".
He points out that Kambanda, who pleaded guilty and got a life sentence, was the first prime minister ever convicted of genocide - "It's historic."
Explaining the way the tribunal works, he says: "Those who are at the very top level of leadership will, if convicted, usually get a life sentence, and a life sentence in our tribunal, as in the Yugoslav tribunal, means until you die." Less prominent leaders, or those who played a less significant role, could get 20 to 35 years. Seven defendants pleaded guilty and they generally got between six and 15 years.
Judge Mose estimates that "more than 100,000" people may have been involved in carrying out the genocide, but individuals "at the grassroot level" go through judicial procedures in Rwanda itself.
The tribunal deals only with top military or parliamentary leaders, senior media figures such as those involved in "hate radio" and some high-ranking clergy.
"This is our clientele," says Judge Mose. "By dealing with the leaders, you send a signal to Rwanda, to Africa and to the world that impunity is not acceptable, even for leaders." But he stresses the "meticulous" approach taken in the trials.
The ICTR was established by the UN Security Council. The main source of evidence is verbal testimony by witnesses.
In most cases, they give evidence in their native Kinyarwanda tongue and this is translated into French and English, the official languages of the tribunal.
The judge and his colleagues were pleased when President Mary McAleese visited Arusha during her African tour last June. "We saw that as a particularly visible expression of Ireland's support to the work of the tribunal."
Judge Mose believes the conditions for genocide can arise anywhere, but especially in authoritarian societies where people are incited by constant propaganda against the untermensch or "sub-human" ethnic group.
"There must be a feeling that those you are killing have less value as human beings than yourself. Then it's easier," he says.