Rwandan judge
Aloysie Cyanzayire (born in 1964) is a Rwandan female lawyer who became the president of the Supreme Court of Rwanda.
Cyanzayire Aloysie was born on February 11, 1964 in Ruhango district, Southern province. Cyanzayire is the eldest of seven sons in his family. Cyanzaire is married with three children. She attended one of Rwanda’s first science schools created solely for girls, where she obtained a scientific educational background. She received a BA in law from the National University of Rwanda, graduating in 1989, before being appointed Judge of the Court of First Instance where she served for one year. She then returned to education for two more academic years, from 1991 to 1993, at the International Section of the National School of Magistrates in Paris. During the 1994 Rwandan Civil War, she served as a judge in the Southern Province city of Butare. Following the cessation of the conflict, Cyanzayire took care of three orphans, two of whom were the children of her brother-in-law who had been killed during the genocide. From 1995 to 2000 she served in a number of roles in the Ministry of Justice, first as Director of Public Prosecutions and Relations with the Judicial Services, then as Director of Legal Drafting, and finally as Secretary-General of the Ministry. She also acted as an adviser to the state broadcaster, Office Rwandais d’Information. In 2000, she was elected by the Rwandan parliament to head the local-level system of postgenocide reconciliation courts, receiving 44 votes out of 52, with her opponent, Jean-Marie Vianney Rusaku, receiving three votes. That same year she was appointed as one of six Deputy Chief Justices of the Supreme Court, during which time she turned to work pertaining to post-war conciliation. Cyanzayire played a seminal role in establishing the post-genocide reconciliation courts, or Gacaca courts, modelled on traditional Rwandan judicial procedures, which were encouraged as both a means to relieve the caseload burden on the judiciary and promote communal healing. In a speech at the National Summit of Unity and Reconciliation in 2002, she highlighted the work of church leaders visiting detainees in prison, seeking to encourage religious organizations to assist in the state-led efforts to rally support for the Gacaca court. In December 2003, she was elected by the Rwandan senate to be the fifth president and first female president of the Supreme Court of Rwanda, where she served a full eight-year term from 2004 until 2012. During this time, she also served as the chairperson of the High Council of the Judiciary. In 2014, she replaced Tito Rutaremara as Chief Ombudsman, taking on a position she would hold until 2017. In 2018, the cabinet voted to reappoint her as Supreme Court justice for a second time; a position which she still holds today in 2022.
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When we get a case, we carry out thorough investigation and research to avoid any injustice. There is nothing as bad as unfair judgment. You have to use your conscience in difficult cases. But if it turns out that you were wrong, it’s important to always apologise and amend the damage you caused. We are human and are bound to make mistakes. When you realise you made a mistake, it’s important to correct them.
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