Truth is Justice is also about how long it takes to get there, right? Recently, we’ve been seeing a repeated and familiar pattern.
The Chebochok case, officially known as Constitutional Petition E006 of 2024, was expected to deliver a judgment this July. Survivors were waiting. Advocates were ready. But instead of a decision, we got a new date. The court has now pushed the judgment to 25th September 2025. Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time we’ve had to absorb such news.
Take the partial appeal in Petition 122 of 2013, the case involving four survivors who’ve been fighting to hold the state accountable for the 2007/2008 post-election sexual violence. That judgment was expected in April this year. We’re now at the end of July, and there’s still no word and no timeline. Nothing to hold on to except silence. These are not just scheduling issues; when you zoom out, it becomes a clear pattern.
Now, we’re not here to attack the courts. That’s not the point. But we won’t pretend this doesn’t matter either. Survivors walk into courtrooms with the full weight of memory, trauma, and truth. They give their statements and face questions. They sit through hearings and do their part. But time and again, they are met with postponements. And with every delay, the burden shifts, the system gets to pause, but survivors do not. They carry the silence. They carry the anticipation. They carry the pain of waiting for a judgment that keeps moving further away.
At UTU WETU, we have stood with survivors from the beginning. We were there in court when these petitions were filed. We have walked alongside the survivors through each mention, each hearing, each false start. We have sat in those benches. We have felt the disappointment settle in the room when a judgment is deferred.
Survivors have waited long enough. And while they continue to show up, we will continue to show up with them, recording these delays, making noise where we can, and refusing to go quiet. Because justice, especially for those who have waited this long, should not be rescheduled again and again without explanation.