Description When genocidal violence gripped Rwanda in 1994, the international community recoiled, hastily withdrawing its peacekeepers.
A Choice Outstanding Academic Book Best Books for General Audiences, selected by the American Association for School Libraries and the Public Library Association Best Books for High Sch.
A must-read for those who want to understand the dynamics of international criminal tribunals, Court of Remorse reveals both the possibilities and the challenges of prosecuting human rights violations.
It is this ground-level view that makes his account so valuable and so absorbing.
Drawing on interviews with these protagonists and his close observations of their interactions, Cruvellier takes readers inside the courtroom to witness the motivations, mechanisms, and manipulations of justice as it unfolded on the stage of high-stakes, global politics.
Gradually he gained the confidence of the victims, defendants, lawyers, and judges.
Fascinated by the Tribunal s rich complexities, journalist Thierry Cruvellier came back day after day to watch the proceedings, spending more time there than any other outside observer.
With the Hutu effectively silenced, and the RPF constantly reminding the international community of its failure to protect the Tutsi during the war, the Tribunal pursued an unusual form of one-sided justice, born out of contrition.
The UN, as if racked by guilt for its past inaction, gave in to pressure by Rwanda s new leadership.
No charges would be brought against the Tutsi-led Rwandan Patriotic Front, which ultimately won control of the country.
But faced with competing claims, the prosecution focused exclusively on the crimes of Hutu extremists.
Late that year, in an effort to redeem itself, the United Nations Security Council created the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda to seek accountability for some of the worst atrocities since World War II: the genocide suffered by the Tutsi and crimes against humanity suffered by the Hutu.
Description When genocidal violence gripped Rwanda in 1994, the international community recoiled, hastily withdrawing its peacekeepers
