Justice on the Grass: Three Rwandan Journalists, Their Trial for War Crimes, and a Nation's Quest for RedemptionThe 1994 Rwandan genocide, in which more than 800,000 Tutsi and moderate Hutu were massacred in just 100 days, was an unparalleled modern-day slaughter. How does a nation pick up the pieces after the killing has stopped? In a gripping narrative that examines the power of the press and sheds light on how the media turned tens of thousands of ordinary Rwandans into murderers, award-winning author and journalist Dina Temple-Raston traces the rise and fall of three media executives -- Ferdinand Nahimana, Jean-Bosco Barayagwiza, and Hassan Ngeze. From crime to trial to verdict, Temple-Raston explores the many avenues of justice Rwanda pursued in the decade after the killing. Focusing on the media trial at the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, she then drops down to the level of the hills, where ordinary Rwandans seek justice and retribution, and examines whether politics in the East African nation has set the stage for renewed violence. In the months leading up to the killing, two local media outlets, Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines (RTLM) and the tabloid newspaper Kangura, warned that a bloody confrontation was brewing. No one would be spared, they said. Observers said later that fearmongering from RTLM and Kangura played a key role in igniting the genocide, so much so that the three men behind the media outlets became the first journalists since Nuremberg to be tried in an international court for crimes against humanity. Drawing on extensive interviews with key players, Dina Temple-Raston brings to life a cast of remarkable characters: the egotistical newspaper editor Hassan Ngeze; hate radio cofounders, the intellectual Ferdinand Nahimana and the defiant legal scholar Jean-Bosco Barayagwiza; an American-led prosecution team wary of a guilty verdict that might bring a broadly written judgment muzzling the press the world over; the bombastic American defense attorney John Floyd; heroic Damien Nzabakira, who risked his life to drive forty orphans to safety only to spend eight years in prison accused of their murder; and Bonaventure Ubalijoro, a Rwandan diplomat and politician who believed in miracles. An extraordinary feat of reporting and narrative, Justice on the Grass reveals a Rwanda few have seen. A searing and compassionate book, Justice on the Grass illustrates how, more than a decade later, a country and its people are still struggling to heal, to forgive, and to make sense of something that defies credibility and humanity. |
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Justice on the Grass: Three Rwandan Journalists, Their Trial for War Crimes ... Dina Temple-Raston No preview available - 2008 |
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accused Africa Akayesu April arrived Arusha Accords asked attorney Biju-Duval Bonaventure Ubalijoro broadcast Bugesera Burundi Butare called charges court courtroom crimes against humanity Damien decided defense ethnic extremist Faustin Twagiramungu Ferdinand Nahimana gacaca genocide began Georges Ruggiu Gisenyi guilty Hassan Ngeze human rights Hutu and Tutsi Hutu Power ICTR incitement Inkotanyi Interahamwe Internews interviews Jean-Bosco Barayagwiza John Floyd journalists Judge Pillay justice Kangura Kigali kill Tutsi Kinyarwanda knew later lawyers leaders listened look machete massacres media trial military Monique months murder Nahi neighbors newspaper Nuremberg party Paul Kagame plane crash political President Kagame presidential prison prosecution prosecutors Radio Mille Collines Radio Rwanda radio station rape Rapp RTLM RTLM’s Ruggiu Rwandan government Rwandan Patriotic Front Serushago Shattuck Simone Monasebian soldiers story Streicher Taba testify testimony thousand tion told took Tribunal for Rwanda United Nations violence wanted witnesses
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Page 17 - ... of the usurping clans herded cattle — just as in Abyssinia, or wherever the Abyssinians or Gallas have shown themselves. There a pastoral clan from the Asiatic side took the government of Abyssinia from its people and have ruled over them ever since, changing, by intermarriage with the Africans, the texture of their hair and colour to a certain extent, but still maintaining a high stamp of Asiatic feature, of which a marked characteristic is a bridged instead of bridgeless nose.
Page 17 - In these countries the government is in the hands of foreigners, who had invaded and taken possession of them, leaving the agricultural aborigines to till the ground, whilst the junior members of the usurping clans herded cattle — just as in Abyssinia, or wherever the Abyssinians or Gallas have shown themselves. There a pastoral clan from the Asiatic side took the government of Abyssinia from its people and have ruled over them ever since, changing, by intermarriage...
References to this book
Yearbook of International Humanitarian Law – 2005, Volume 8; Volume 2005 Timothy McCormack,Avril McDonald No preview available - 2007 |