Rwanda launches 'rehab' for killers

Up to 18,000 inmates will be sent to the half-way camps

Ceremonies have been held across Rwanda to mark the opening of rehabilitation centres for people who admit taking part in the 1994 genocide.

Thousands of prisoners are being released from jail to go to the re-education centres and then back to their communities.

Prime Minister Bernard Makuza told one ceremony that the controversial policy was just the latest stage in the post-genocide justice process.

But the BBC's correspondent in Kigali, Ishbel Matheson, says human rights groups are concerned the move could simply undermine the slow process of justice.

Serious overcrowding in Rwandan jails was one factor behind the initiative, she says.

Some 90% of Rwanda's prisoners are genocide suspects

Up to a million people were killed over the course of 100 days in a government-orchestrated campaign aimed at eradicating the country's Tutsi minority.

The prisoner-release plan is being targeted at people who have confessed to lesser crimes, although our correspondent says these include murders which would be seen as horrific by normal standards.

Those released have already spent longer awaiting trial than the maximum sentence for the offences they have admitted committing.

The sick, the elderly and suspects who were minors at the time of the killings will also be eligible.

Traumatic memories

About 18,000 inmates will be sent to the re-education camps where they will be encouraged to face up to their own role in the ethnic violence.

Then, after a few weeks, they will be able to return home, generally to the community where they committed their crimes.

In theory, they will be tried at a later date by a new system of village courts, known as gagaca.

The courts were introduced six months ago, though they have yet to deliver any verdicts.

But human rights groups warn witnesses may be intimidated, and some of the accused could disappear, they say.

Survivors of the genocide will also face immense trauma as the murderers return to the neighbourhood.