Gacaca Research Report No.10: Judgements on property offence cases

This report focuses on the cases involving property offences committed during the genocide. Such cases are complex due to the varying degrees of responsibility: did the perpetrators engage in the looting of an abandoned home as a means of survival or were they involved in the organised and systematic destruction of property to eliminate all traces of the genocide victims? Other complexities inevitably arise as so many years have passed since the events took place: how is it possible to prove who took what and when? Who should pay compensation and how much? Does compensation improve the chances of reconciliation or does it only serve to increase tensions?

Drawing on extensive field research and testimony from all those involved in the Gacaca process, this report highlights the many complexities but also the importance of these cases in the context of extreme poverty in post-war Rwanda.