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The killing of more than 800,000 Rwandans in the 100 or so days between April and June in 1994 marked one of the darkest chapters of humanity. After a six-year-long trial, justice has finally been dealt to Theoneste Bagosora, with his conviction for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) based in Tanzania. He faces life in jail, while the family and friends of the victims have finally found closure to their unfortunate past. Finally an international effort had been made to punish the individuals who committed genocide.

Ethnic conflict in Rwanda is not uncommon, especially between the majority Hutus and minority Tutsis. But normally they live in the same communities, enjoy the same culture and food and coexist and prosper together.

However, things got complicated when local politicians started using ethnicity as a political tool. In 1994, the Hutu politicians in power stoked the passions of their ethnic people against the better-off Tutsis - an action that quickly turned into tragedy.

Bagosora played the part of key organiser, as was widely cited in the indictment. As the second-most influential person in Rwanda's Defence Ministry, he directed Hutu soldiers to kill Tutsis as well as moderate Hutus. He was also found responsible for the deaths of former Rwandan prime minister Agathe Uwilingiyimana and 10 Belgian peacekeepers.

Bagosora's career path and his hatred of Tutsis was traced in court. In the early 1990s, he publicly showed ire against government delegates, who he thought were too soft on Tutsi-led rebels. In April 1994, he devised plans to terminate ethnic Tutsis.

It must be noted that the UN Security Council established the ICTR in 1994 to judge and punish the people responsible for the Rwandan genocide. So far, the tribunal has completed 21 trials and convicted 29 individuals found involved in the genocide. Another 11 trials are in progress, with a total of 14 people in detention. However, the prosecutor intends to transfer five of these people to the national jurisdiction for trial.

One can hope that the conviction of Bagosora has sent a strong message to other leaders accused of crimes against humanity and genocide, like President Omar Hassan al-Bashir of Sudan. Bashir has been held responsible for the current quagmire in the Darfur region.

In July, the world criminal court filed 10 charges of war crimes against him for allegedly masterminding a campaign of murder, rape and mass deportation in Darfur based on ethnicity.

Bashir is facing three counts of genocide, five of crimes against humanity and two of murder. However, many political pundits believe there is little prospect of him facing trials in The Hague because of the ongoing effort to help the Darfur refugees, who could end up being targeted for revenge by the powers that be.

Closer to home in Cambodia, the ongoing Khmer Rouge tribunal is also part of the global push to punish individuals for crimes against humanity. Known as the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), it plans to try up to eight defendants who were former Khmer Rouge commanders involved in killing their own people during their horror reign between 1975 and 1978.

In order to do so, it will need US$170 million (Bt5.9 billion) to run the trial until March 2011. This effort, it must be noted, requires patience and funding because trials on such crimes often take a long time and great expense. But it is important to continue this process because this is the only way a closure can be brought to the countries and the people who have gone through this trauma.