Kigali — Gacaca courts have delivered 654 judgments since the first proper trials began on March 10th, 2005, a senior official told Hirondelle News Agency on Wednesday.

"As of last week, statistics from across the country indicate we have completed 654 trials", Anastase Barinda, the director of documentation in the National Service for Gacaca Courts (NSGC) said.

Gacaca is a form of semi-traditional court set up three years ago to speed up genocide trials and reconciliation. During the first years, time was spent setting up and monitoring pilot courts. The pilot courts only held pre-trial hearings.

The first trials opened on March 10th, 2005 in 118 courts. When trials begin all over the country next year, at least 10,000 courts are scheduled to operate.

Regular courts would have taken over 100 years to hear all cases related to the 1994 genocide. In contrast, officials say Gacaca courts should be through all genocide cases in about five years.