"Those who say we are in bondage are wrong. They forget the nature of the crimes we committed! They have been lenient with us," says Emmanuel Kamanda with conviction. Assigned to the second category of genocide perpetrators by his sector gacaca, he was sentenced to 12 years in prison. Kamanda has finished serving height and will perform community service to fulfill the remaining four. He is among the hundreds of people we met at a pilot site in the center of the country. They were crushing rocks to build roads.
According to Rwandan authorities, this "community service" program is a way of "extending a hand" to the perpetrators of the 1994 genocide - a way of pardoning them and reintegrating them into Rwandan society. Governed by a presidential decree dated March 7, 2005, the community service program was officially launched on September 22. With this type of sentence, convicted suspects spend only half of their time in prison. This applies only to the so-called "category 2" suspects - perpetrators, subordinates and accomplices suspected of having committed murder or assault and battery resulting in death during the genocide. "Category 1" suspects, the suspected planners, rapists and renowned killers are not entitled to such sentences.

Approximately 100,000 people are still in prison in Rwanda for their participation in the genocide. The vast majority of these prisoners, who are likely to benefit from this measure, are 30 to 50 years old and represent a significant portion of Rwanda's working population. We want these people to contribute to development in the country through activities such as building roads, contributing to controlling erosion, marsh management and reforestation, said in substance Rwandan Minister of Justice Edda Mukabagwiza during the national inauguration of the community service program.

"It's as though I've been pardoned."

In addition to the objective to reduce the prison population, the community service initiative is also a way to lessen the economic and social costs of prisons. Many of those who have been convicted are voicing their satisfaction. Whether this comes at the expense of sincere regrets or is a façade, the prison conditions in Rwanda are such that anyone would jump at the chance to spend less time there. Faustin Ahishakiye was sentenced to nine years in prison. He served seven and will perform one year of community service. "Frankly, it's as though I've been pardoned. I realized I had acted very badly and I am sorry. I hurt my neighbors and my country. Yet they didn't kill me like I had killed others during the genocide. I am even allowed to go see my family three times a week!"

Some genocide survivors feel that community service is release in disguise. "We know they are trying to free these people. It's like release in disguise. The problem is that many of them do not even ask for our forgiveness. I still don't know who killed my father. Clearly, he did not commit suicide! At any rate, we cannot do anything about it. It's what the government wants," said a young student who wished to remain anonymous.

Families of the prisoners have extremely different perceptions of this program. Some even call it "modern slavery." Deliberately raising the specter of the feudal system to which the Hutu's ancestors had been subjected, the propagandists of the pre-1994 regime brandished this threat during the genocide in order to incite the Hutu masses to kill their neighbors by telling them that the Tutsis wanted to reduce them to slavery again.

"I think that the government and politicians in place during the genocide should be held accountable. We continue to needlessly impoverish and penalize simple people," said Albert Munyampeta, a school teacher in Ruhengeri province in the north of the country. However, the presidential decree on community service provides that the prisoners will perform community service three days a week and work to provide for their families on the other three. The aim of this policy is to reassure the survivor community, while assisting the families these prisoners leave behind in the hills who are slowly sinking into extreme poverty.