In the 1994 Rwanda Genocide, tens of thousands of women took arms and killed the entire Tutsi community. One journalist, Natalia Ojewska, interviewed some of the female criminals locked behind bars.
Parents kill one another
One perpetrator, Fortunate Mukankuranga, was fetching water for their morning meal before the scene turned into a gruesome murder. Clad in bright orange, and speaking with a calm voice, she vividly recollects the events that occurred on April 10, 1994.
According to BBC, as Mukankuranga was on her way home, she saw several people assaulting two men in the middle of the road. She said that when the two men fell to the ground, she quickly picked up a stick and beat both victims. She admitted she was one of the murderers.
The incident was among the 800,000 victims of ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus that were killed over 100 days, whose main perpetrator has been arrested.
After her role in the killings, Mukankuranga, who is an ethnic Hutu, travelled back to her home with her seven children and feelings of shame running rampant inside her. Images of the incident continued to haunt her in her daily life.
She said that she was a mother, but that she also killed the parents of other children.
A couple of days later, two horrified Tutsi children, after murderers butchered their parents with machetes, went over to her home, seeking refuge.
Also Read: Rwanda Finds Genocide Grave That Could Contain 30,000 Bodies
Upon seeing the children, Mukankurang did not hesitate to take them in and hide them in their attic, saving them from certain death. She stated that even after saving the lives of the two children, she failed to protect the two men that she killed.
Mukankuranga is among 96,000 women that have been convicted for their part in the 1994 Rwanda Genocide. Some of the women killed adults, some also murdered kids, while others drove other men to commit rape and murder.
Another step towards justice
A French researcher has successfully gained access to ex-President Francois Mitterrand's archives in a protracted legal battle. The files contain detailed information on the bloody massacre that Kigali accused France of taking part in, as reported by Aljazeera.
France's top administrative court, the State Council, on Friday, ruled that the documents would assist researchers and Francois Graner figure out and reveal the truth behind the debate that has been the matter of public interest.
Presidential archives are commonly kept confidential for 60 years after the date they were signed. Under specific circumstances, however, they can be made public at an earlier time.
The State Council noted that there must be an equilibrium between protecting state secrets and informing the public of historical events. Patrice Spinosi, Graner's lawyer, said that the acquisition of the documents is not only a victory for the law but also history.
Researchers previously argued that there was only a small part of the classified documents that were made available. They also noted that a conclusive decision on France's hand in the genocide was yet to be determined.