A truth commission is not a criminal court that seeks the conviction of offenders. It unearths the truth and opens the way for perpetrators to acknowledge it and beg for forgiveness and draws lessons on how to avoid the recurrence of such human rights violations and abuses. Perpetrators should have confidence by acknowledging their crimes and begging for forgiveness hoping that leniency will be shown and survivors may forgive them, thus paving the way for reconciliation.
If perpetrators of crimes believe that they may be prosecuted after acknowledging them while testifying at a hearing they may tend to cover up by lying. Such commission may miss a lot of admissions of abuses and violations, thus making the task of reconciliation more challenging.
