9-26-05,9:26am

KIGALI, 23 Sep 2005 (IRIN) - Hundreds of genocide convicts in Rwanda, released under a presidential decree, began community work on Friday as part of the punishment for their role in the 1994 killings, an official told IRIN.

'Instead of keeping them in prison, it is more productive to have them do communal work,' Emmanuel Twagirumukiza, the official in charge of the work, said on Thursday.

Rwandan authorities refer to the community service as 'work of general interest'. It involves the building of homes for genocide survivors whose houses were destroyed or burnt down during the genocide.

The first lot scheduled to undertake the community service are more than 1,000 convicts in the central province of Gitarama. They were released after they confessed to genocide.

The work is part of punishment handed down by the country's traditional justice system, known as 'Gacaca', which was introduced to expedite trials for thousands of genocide suspects held in prisons.

Gacaca courts sentenced and convicted the former inmates, most of whom could not return to prison as they had already served half the time of their sentences at the time of their release.

Twagirumukiza said the prisoners would now serve their remaining sentence doing communal work.

The bulk of these convicts include the killers, those who conspired in murders and those accused of crimes against property committed during April-July 1994 killings of an estimated 937,000 people, mostly Tutsis and politically moderate Hutus.

Rwanda's regular courts try the key planners of the genocide, and these have to serve their full sentence in detention centres.

'This initiative will also contribute in healing the [psychological] wounds of survivors, hence promoting reconciliation,' Twagirumukiza said.

Under the community service, the convicts will plant trees, grow food for fellow prisoners, build homes for other vulnerable people, construct roads and perform any other tasks that the government deems necessary and developmental.

Rwanda recently release up to 30,000 inmates, a majority of whom had confessed in the past one year of taking part in the genocide.

In 2003, up to 24,000 inmates were released following a presidential decree for minors, the elderly and the sick as well as for those who ran the risk of being in prison for periods longer than stipulated legal penalties.