Justice on the Grass : Three Rwandan Journalists, Their Trial for War Crimes and a Nation's Quest for Redemption

by Dina Temple-Raston

• ISBN13: 9780743251105
• ISBN10: 0743251105
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2005-03-01
• Publisher: Free Press

Summary

In 1994, almost 1 million people were savagely slain in one of the most horrific massacres in history. The subsequent war crimes trial of three prominent Rwandan media executives who used a radio station and a newspaper to incite the killing made front-page news around the world. Not since Nuremberg have journalists been tried and found guilty of crimes against humanity. This incredible book is the story of a nation's search for accountability. From crime to trial to verdict, JUSTICE ON THE GRASS takes readers through a decade in the lives of people on both sides of the law, including the three journalists, along with everyday citizens such as an orphanage teacher wrongfully imprisoned for eight years for the murder of forty childen. From the killing fields to the prisons to the primitive courtrooms where tribal ritual dictates open-air justice, a Rwanda is revealed that few have ever seen. JUSTICE ON THE GRASS is a searing and compassionate book that illustrates how, over a decade later, a country and its people are still struggling to heal, to forgive and to make sense of something that defies credibility and humanity.

Author Biography

Dina Temple-Raston is currently the City Hall Bureau Chief for the New York Sun.

Table of Contents

Glossary	xi
Prologue	1	(174)
1 Beginnings	13	(20)
2 Murderers or Patriots	33	(14)
3 "Contours of the Monster"	47	(21)
4 "I Want a Big, American Lawyer"	68	(19)
5 When Two Elephants Fight, It Is the Grass That Suffers	87	(18)
6 "We Had No Control"	105	(17)
7 Merci, Genocide	122	(19)
8 The Rape Babies Arrived in the Spring	141	(19)
9 Words Can Kill	160	(15)
10 Hutu Blood, Is It Red?	175	(20)
11 The Fallen Cow Is Gored by the Herd	195	(19)
12 All Thumbs	214	(13)
13 Tribunal in Chains	227	(15)
14 The Aftermath	242	(11)
Epilogue	253	(6)
Notes on Sources	259	(20)
Acknowledgments	279	(4)
Bibliography	283	(4)
Index	287