THE PARTY FDU-INKINGI IS DEEPLY CONCERNED ABOUT CONTINUED PERSECUTION AND DISAPPEARANCE OF PEOPLE IN RWANDA

by Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza for President on Saturday, April 2, 2011 at 2:23pm

Kigali, March 22, 2011
THE PARTY FDU-INKINGI IS DEEPLY CONCERNED ABOUT CONTINUED PERSECUTION AND DISAPPEARANCE OF PEOPLE IN RWANDA

Acts of persecution and disappearance of people are still reported across the country.  What is seriouslly worrying is the role of state security operatives in the kidnappings or the arbitrary detentions of civilians while their respective families are not being informed on the whereabouts of their loved ones. It is feared that some of the missing people who have been kidnapped may not be found alive.
Below are few examples of these disappearances:

• MUGANGA KARERA:
According to his family, MUGANGA KARERA, who is originally from the District of RWAMAGANA and resident of KIGALI City, has been  kidnapped by security operatives on May 16, 2010. As of today, his whereabouts remain unknown despite numerous searches and inquiries by his family to the state security sevices;
• HAVUGINTWALI Lambert:
Resident of NGOMA sector, District of HUYE, Southern Province, and Professor at the National University of Rwanda (NUR), HAVUGINTWALI Lambert disappeared on February 9, 2011 as shown by the letter dated on March 9, 2011 that his wife desperately wrote to President Paul Kagame begging for help. It is obvious that this individual has been kidnapped by plain clothes police officers. His whereabouts are still unknown though his vehicle was found in the parking of a local police station. The modus operandi is the same like the case above.
• NIYONAGIZE Aloys:
He was nabbed by the police at KIMICANGA, in KIGALI City on March 10, 2011 while on his way from a local grocery. Eight days later, on March 18, 2011, he was found in intensive care unit at  the Kigali main public hospital,  Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Kigali (CHUK) with serious injuries on thighs, buttocks, arms and the head. Signs of concussion were under examination as well. What is troubling is that his family has been told that he was taken to hospital by the police which had arrested him in good health a few days earlier.

• We are still investigating allegations on the kidnapping of several people in the District of RUSIZI (KAMASERA, NYABAGENI, KIJIBANDA) in early March 2011. Some of the victims resurfaced in RWESERO and NTENDEZI police detention facilities without informing their respective families about the charges and conditions of detention. 

We strongly denounce these criminal acts involving state security organs. Their primary mission should be to ensure the security and the rights of all citizens. If these people are accused of any crime, their families should be fully informed about all the charges and locations of detention and be allowed to visit them on a regular basis.
The government should respect the provisional detention regulations and make sure that any person suspected of any crime appears before a judge within the legal timeframe.
The government should prosecute the abuse of authority and position and must cover all medical expenses incurred by the victims of such barbaric acts.

For FDU-INKINGI
Boniface TWAGIRIMANA
Interim Vice President