View Video | Voices from the Rwanda Tribunal

William Egbe
speaks on ...

the lessons in humanity

Transcript

0:00

And one of the most difficult lessons about humanity is to be in a situation where you face your torturer and you are still willing to forgive. We’ve had many situations in the trial chambers where people have broke down in front of their torturers. Some were speechless but they found, after the tears, they found the courage to say what they knew and at the end of the day they said, “Forgiveness is for God, it’s not for me.” That's changed me.

0:35

And I have seen situations where people who are so cruel to other human beings, they appear before the courts and are willing to shed a tear and to say, “I am sorry.” Those are two aspects; forgiveness on the part of the victim and remorse, genuine remorse on the part of the killers, the perpetrators. It’s a very touching experience, very touching experience and it touches on my humanity and it touches on even the humanity of the judges.