Kigali — The Gacaca Courts in Rwanda will begin to work on a national level on 25 November. The courts were established in June 2001 and a pilot project in 12 sectors was launched on 19 June 2001 to test the modalities applicable on the ground.

This pilot process was evaluated in September after it had completed three months of meetings and hearings. Rwandans are now preparing to begin hearings on a nation-wide level next week.

"I believe that we are ready for Gacaca We invite all people to come and participate in the start of the Gacaca hearings in public," Julienne Murekatete, a Gacaca judge for Gikondo sector of Kigali, told members of the public at a meeting in Gikondo prison.

The quasi-traditional courts are set up to deal with the backlog of more than 110,000 genocide suspects still awaiting trial in Rwandan prisons. In Gacaca, prisoners are brought before judges elected by the community where they committed the alleged crimes, the judges hear the cases before the community and rule on the terms to be served.

According to the Gacaca law, half of any sentence imposed will be served within the community, and it is expected that because most of the inmates have been in jail for more than seven years, most will be released to serve the remainder of their terms at home.

On 16 November, Internews visited Gikondo prison in Kigali where more than 6,000 prisoners are awaiting trial. The prisoners were holding a religious service and their relatives were invited to hear from the prisoners themselves, how the courts will operate.

"We train them [the prisoners] here and then they are able to educate others," Faustin Murigo, the prison director for Gikondo explains.

"Gacaca started first in the prisons, we had to explain to them what is going to happen. It helps them," he says. According to Murigo, the public education campaign needs to intensify for the information to be effective and that is why they sometimes use prison visits to reach the families of the accused.

"When we go to do education in the local level we sometimes do not get as many people as when they come here to see their relatives, so we take advantage of this," he says.

The Rwandan government envisions that Gacaca will help the communities reach reconciliation and address the issues of justice for the genocide survivors. The slogan 'Ukuri Kurakiza' (Truth Heals) underlines each of the posters used by the public campaign on information about Gacaca.

"I trust that next year you will not come here to see your friends and family. [You will be] working in your fields and at home I believe Gacaca will help you," Murigo says.