On April sixth, 1994, the killing started in Rwanda. On April 6th, 1995, the first accused killers went on trial. I was in the courtroom in the Rwandan capital, Kigali, as the legal process started. The shabby, shell-shattered stone and stucco courtroom in Kigali's battle-scarred Nyamirambo district was packed with reporters, photographers and dozens of curious Rwandans, as the first accused killer was called before the three-judge panel.
He was a 17-year-old named Ngomayubu, the only minor and the only defendant who was accompanied by attorneys -- lawyers provided by UNICEF, the UN child welfare organization. They asked for an adjournment in order to study the case. It was granted without objection.
Then five more accused killers, all adults, but like the youth dressed in pink prison clothing, stood before the judges. The court president also ordered their cases continued to a later date to allow additional preparations.
The whole process did not last more than an hour, but it was symbolically important. For it was one year ago that a mysterious plane crash claimed the life of Rwanda's then-President, Juvenal Habyarimana. Within hours, a bloodbath began that left a half million or more Rwandans dead, most of them members of the ethnic Tutsi minority.
None of the accused killers in the courtroom would be considered masterminds of the genocide. Those officials of the former Hutu-led government and extremist Hutu militia are expected to be tried by an international tribunal beginning sometime several months from now in Arusha, Tanzania.
That process is expected to last years, and the mainly Tutsi spectators on hand for the first locally-staged trial said it was important to them as survivors of the killing that justice move more quickly. They made it clear there was no doubt in their minds as to the guilt of the accused, including the 17-year-old.
The spectators also made clear they wanted them to face the same fate as their victims: death.
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