Citation
CONTENTS
Introduction
Appeal cases:
1.
Agathe Uwilingiyimana
2.
Jeannette Nsebone
3.
Immaculée
4.
Father Marcel
5.
Siméon
6.
Félicitas Niyitegeka
7.
Etienne
8.
Félicité Dusabi
9.
Jean-Marie Vianney
10. Sister Beninga
11. Brother Céléstin
12. Thadée Nsengiyumva
13. Violette Mukubutera
14. Julienne Mukanyarwaya
15. Sylvestre Kamali
Appendices: Photo order form.
Addresses for Rwanda Authorities
RWANDA: CASES FOR APPEALS
Introduction
At the start of April 1994, Rwanda was plunged into the most tragic
part of its history yet. By early July, it was estimated that at least
500,000 people, most of them members of the minority Tutsi ethnic
group, had been killed in countrywide massacres when an aircraft
carrying Rwanda's President, Juvénal Habyarimana, and his Burundi
counterpart Cyprien Ntaryamira, was brought down by a missile, killing
both Presidents and other officials.
Evidence gathered by Amnesty International, the UN and others,
suggests that the killings were on the whole perpetrated by members of
the security forces and militia gangs loyal to President Habyarimana.
Certain elements of the Rwandese Armed Forces, such as the Presidential
Guard, were close to Hutu-dominated political parties, who were in turn
responsible for the establishment and training of militia. The two main
Hutu parties believed responsible for this were President Habyarimana's
own party, the Mouvement républican national pour la démocratie et le
dévéloppment (MRND), National Republican Movement for Democracy
and Development, and an exclusively Hutu political party, the Coalition
pour la défense de la républic (CDR), Coalition for the Defence of the
Republic. They were allied in their opposition to peace accords which
included the setting up of a broad-based transitional government. The
transitional government was to include members of the Rwandese
Patriotic Front (RPF) a Tutsi-dominated armed opposition party which
had engaged in armed conflict with government forces since October
1990.
The installation of the broad-based transitional government was
due to take place 37 days after the signing of the so-called Arusha
accords on 4 August 1993. Tension between political parties created by
disagreements over numbers and identities of representatives to
nominate for the transitional government led to a sharp increase in
politically-motivated violence as the government's inauguration became
increasingly overdue. Attacks against politicians, human rights activists
and ordinary people by "unknown" assailants typified a campaign of
apparent destabilization. The shooting down of the President's aircraft on
his return from a regional conference convened to solve political
stalemates in Rwanda and Burundi, served to ignite an extremely
explosive situation. Members and supporters of the Hutu-dominated
interim government which took power immediately after President
Habyarimana's death gave explicit orders for massacres countrywide.
Amnesty International is concerned that at least 500,000 mainly
Tutsi civilians were subjected to arbitrary and deliberate killings by
members of the Security forces and militia groups acting under orders by
members of the Rwandese government between April and July 1994.
The victims included not only Tutsi (who were perceived by their
attackers as a "fifth column" of the RPF) but anyone "educated", anyone
"well off", anyone who supported human rights or who had a political
opinion which did not conform to the ideology of the Hutu extremists.
Appeal cases 1-11 relate directly to the victims of these massacres.
The killings were largely halted by the victory of the Rwandese
Patriotic Army (RPA) over the Armée nationale rwandaise (ANR)
Rwandese National Army.
The international community then pledged
3
to assist the new Rwandese government1 in bringing the perpetrators to
justice.
The UN is also in the process of deploying human rights
observers to the country to investigate the massacres which occurred
since January 1994 and monitor reports of violations committed by
members of the RPA. Amnesty International and other human rights
groups have expressed concern at human rights violations being
committed by the RPA, and that the new government is ill-equipped to
bring suspects to trial, with safeguards for fairness. Appeal cases 12-15
relate to Amnesty International's concerns regarding violations
committed by RPA soldiers and others loyal to the current government.
These appeal cases aim to highlight the fact that those responsible
for mass murder
in Rwanda have yet to be brought to justice. They also
show that human rights violations continue in Rwanda, and that the
Rwandese government and the international community have an
obligation to halt these violations with a view to ending Rwanda's cycle of
violence and impunity.
1The
Rwandese government was inaugurated 19 July after an RPA victory.
4
Appeal case no. 1
Agathe Uwilingiyimana was the first woman Prime Minister of
Rwanda. She was killed by members of the Presidential Guard2 with
her husband on 7 April 1994.
Kigali is an absolute horror. The killers have passed by. They have gone
one by one through each house. The dead number thousands, if not
tens of thousands. A few hours has been enough for them to wipe out
the majority of Rwanda's politicians, several ministers and a number
of top magistrates. Amongst the victims has been Madame Agathe
Uwilingiyimana, who just before being killed, hid with her husband in
my house. The killers were quick to find them. Fortunately their
children were saved thanks to the courage of friends and colleagues.
Eye-witness account
Background to case:
On the night of 6 April, an aircraft carrying President Juvénal
Habyarimana of Rwanda and President Cyprien Ntaryamira of
Burundi crashed into the gardens of the Presidency in Kigali, killing all
the passengers. Shortly after, members of the Presidential Guard, the
National Gendarmerie and militia units known as "Interahamwe3"
2The
Presidential Guard fell under the command of the President of the
former Rwandese Government which was replaced on 19 July 1994 after a three
year-old civil war.
3The
militia units were created by Hutu-dominated political parties loyal to
President Habyarimana. Interahamwe translates approximately in English to "those
who attack together."
5
began to execute people known or suspected of supporting a broad
-based transitional government that was to include members of the
Rwandese Patriotic Front (RPF), a Tutsi-dominated armed opposition
movement. Formation of the transitional government was part of the
peace agreement signed by the government and the RPF on 4 August
1993, thus ending Rwanda's three year-old civil war. Formation of
the government was violently resisted by Hutu-dominated extremist
political parties, and had not come into office at the time of the
crash. The killings of politicians, intellectuals, businessmen and
hundred of thousands of ordinary Tutsi (who were commonly
perceived by their killers as an enemy fifth column) were to continue
for nearly 12 weeks. Rwandese society and infrastructure were left
decimated.
In June 1993, Agathe Uwilingiyimana was nominated by her party,
the Mouvement démocratique républicain (MDR), Democratic
Republican Movement, as Prime Minister to head a coalition
government. In her former post as Education Minister, she had been
attacked in her home and received death threats from unidentified
men, allegedly for her party's role in reaching a power-sharing
agreement with the RPF. It is clear that she was targeted by the
killers as she was murdered soon after the death of the President.
Recommended actions:
Write a letter to your government explaining that the killers of
Agathe Uliwingiyimana and those of hundreds of thousands of others
killed between April and June 1994 have not been brought to justice
and:
6
•
Ask them to put pressure on the UN to assist the Rwandese
authorities to identify, apprehend and bring the perpetrators of
this killing to justice.
•
Ask them to help accelerate the setting up of an international
criminal tribunal for Rwanda to begin proceedings as soon as
possible.
•
Ask them to support the establishment of a permanent
international war crimes tribunal, so that governments or
others responsible for crimes against humanity are never allowed
impunity.
•
Seek assurances that no one suspected of involvement in
Rwanda's massacres escapes justice in your country.
Send a copy of one of your letters to your own government to the
Rwandese authorities4 with a covering letter asking them to:
•
Fully cooperate with the relevant UN bodies who are carrying
out inquiries into past and current allegations of human rights
violations including crimes against humanity and genocide.
Audio visual materials available:
•There is a photograph available of Agathe Uwilingiyimana with her
family. (See photo order form attached.)
4Please
address no.3 in the attached government authorities list.
7
Appeal case no.2
Jeannette Nsebasone is a young Tutsi girl who claims to be 15
years-old. She survived the massacre of hundreds at Nyamata Roman
Catholic Church, but was orphaned because of it.
The Interahamwe returned the following morning. A military vehicle
mounted with a big gun stopped here (in front of the church). They
then fired into the church. Afterwards Interahamwe entered the
church with machetes. After many people had already been shot and
killed, Interahamwe entered and started slashing people, cutting
everyone who was still alive. Only two other Hutu girls survived. There
were Hutu employed by Tutsi who were also killed.
I was a Tutsi, but I asked them to spare me, saying that I was a Hutu.
They left me. I was all covered in blood. There was blood everywhere,
including on priests' garments. When I left the church I was given
shelter by a Hutu. The following day people began saying a Tutsi had
survived and was still hiding around. A Hutu came and took me away
saying that I was his relative.
Jeannette Nsebasone's testimony
Background to case:
On 7 April only hours after the crash which killed the Presidents was
announced, Interahamwe arrived in a convoy at Nyamata around 40
kilometres south of Kigali and with the help of government troops
8
killed Tutsi and suspected government opponents in their hundreds. In
March 1993, Nyamata had been at the centre of a spate of around
300 political killings. Amnesty International raised the case of an
Italian nun, Antonia Locatelli, who was shot dead as she tried to
shelter displaced Tutsi. Despite appeals by AI, the government had
never investigated the earlier massacre at Nyamata.
After the President's aircraft crashed, local residents were instructed
not to leave their homes. Soon afterwards, they heard what they
thought was members of Interahamwe militia units shooting around
Nyamata and in Nyamata trading centre. Some people, including
Jeannette and her family, fled into the bush, where Interahamwe
hunted them down. The family, along with hundreds of others then
went to the church for sanctuary.
After one or two days, the people in the church heard gunshots as the
militia apparently killed displaced people in the surrounding area.
When they finished with them, the Interahamwe approached the
church but did not enter. Instead, they returned the following day to
massacre nearly all those left in the church.
Recommended actions:
Write a letter to your government explaining that those responsible
for the massacre at Nyamata church have not been brought to justice
and;
•
Ask them to put pressure on the UN to assist the Rwandese
authorities to identify, apprehend and bring the perpetrators of
this killing to justice.
9
•
Ask them to help accelerate the setting up of an international
criminal tribunal for Rwanda to begin proceedings as soon as
possible.
•
Ask them to support the establishment of a permanent
international war crimes tribunal, so that governments
responsible for crimes against humanity are never allowed
impunity.
•
Seek assurances that no one suspected of involvement in
Rwanda's massacres escapes justice in your country.
Send a copy of one of your letters to your own government to the
Rwandese authorities5 with a covering letter asking them to:
•
Fully cooperate with the relevant UN bodies who are carrying
out inquiries into past and current allegations of human rights
violations including crimes against humanity and genocide.
Audio visual materials:
•In August 1994 Amnesty International produced an Electronic News
Release (ENR), which includes video footage of delegates visiting
Nyamata church6.
5Please
6This
address no.3 in the attached government authorities list.
is available from the Audio Visual Unit at the International Secretariat.
10
•There is a photo available of Nyamata church. (See photo order form)
11
Appeal case no.3
Immaculée7, a 16 year-old girl orphaned and severely wounded, was
one of few survivors from over 4,000 people massacred at Nyarubuye
Parish, in southeastern Rwanda's Kibungo prefecture on 14 April.
The parish was filling up every day with terrorised people. There were
almost around 5,000 when on 14 April hundreds of militia arrived
with eight gendarmes.
We tried to defend ourselves. The church was
full of people praying. When we realised we had no hope, I and some
others escaped. The young people, and those who still had some
strength left, managed to get out. Others, such as parents with young
children, we had to leave behind.
Young man who escaped the massacre at Nyarubuye.
Background to case:
Nyarubuye is a small parish comprising a Roman Catholic church and
a school, in a comparatively isolated position in southeastern Rwanda,
near to the Tanzanian frontier. Although nearly the entire population
(the victims included many Hutu as well as Tutsi) of this small parish
was wiped out in one day by militia units, the massacre was not
discovered until 44 days after it had taken place. Soldiers of the
Rwandese Patriotic Army (RPA) were sickened to find, as were the
7Immaculée
is not her real name.
12
dozens of journalists to follow, thousands of mutilated bodies clutching
icons and crucifixes. Immaculée was one of the few living persons
found; her fingers cut off and deep wounds on her back. Her speech
was limited to repeating over and over that her family was dead.
When local people in the area around Nyarubuye started to hear
about massacres in Kigali, both Hutu and Tutsi fled to the church for
protection. There they prayed and waited. From the carnage left, it
seems that the killers mainly used machetes although there was
evidence that firearms were also extensively used. The young people
who managed to escape the massacre headed towards the Akagera
river, which marks the border with Tanzania. Many of them were
killed on the way by other militia gangs; one of the escapees claims
that only 350 of them reached safety.
The few remaining survivors of Nyarubuye allege that the massacre
was organised by the local administrator (bourgemestre) who was
reported in late 1994 to be living in a refugee camp in neighbouring
Tanzania.
Recommended actions:
Write a letter to your government explaining that those responsible
for the killings of known or suspected government opponents of the
former Rwandese government and thousands of members of the Tutsi
ethnic group have not been brought to justice and;
•
Ask them to put pressure on the UN to assist the Rwandese
authorities to identify, apprehend and bring the perpetrators of
this killing to justice.
13
•
Ask them to help accelerate the setting up of an international
criminal tribunal for Rwanda to begin proceedings as soon as
possible.
•
Ask them to support the establishment of a permanent
international war crimes tribunal, so that governments
responsible for crimes against humanity are never allowed
impunity.
•
Seek assurances that no one suspected of involvement in
Rwanda's massacres escapes justice in your country.
Send a copy of one of your letters to your own government to the
Rwandese authorities8 with a covering letter asking them to:
•
Fully cooperate with the relevant UN bodies who are carrying
out inquiries into past and current allegations of human rights
violations including crimes against humanity and genocide.
Audio visual materials available:
• Photographs of a church massacre are available from the
International Secretariat for Amnesty International members only.9
8Please
address no.3 in the attached government authorities list.
9Please
request Photo Order form for use with Rapid Response Action June
1994, AFR 47/14/94 and refer to photograph nos 16-19.
14
15
Appeal case no.4
Father Marcel was a Hutu priest at Mubuga Roman Catholic church in
Kibuye prefecture in northwestern Rwanda. He was a victim of a
political killing along with thousands of others in April 1994.
"You, the priest, leave!
The others are going to die.
-But these people are Christians! Like you, like me...
-It's an order of the government.
-You are not going to let the blood of Catholics flow, not in a church!"
Eye-witness account of conversation between victim and a soldier.
Background to case:
Although the Rwandese Patriotic Army (RPA) moved fairly rapidly
across eastern Rwanda, halting the atrocities carried out by
government troops and militia units, Tutsi people living in western
Rwanda suffered nearly three months of massacres. By the time the
French "Operation Turquoise" arrived to set up a "safe haven " in
southwestern Rwanda in July, it was estimated that at least half of
the
55,000 Tutsi living in Kibuye prefecture had been killed.
Father Marcel of Mubuga church in Kibuye prefecture had sheltered
hundreds of Tutsi who had fled from the hills of Bisesero. On 16 April
the Prefect (governor) arrived, after the priest had called for help to
protect the displaced people who had gathered to seek refuge at his
parish. However, the Prefect and his men had arrived for other
16
purposes and an argument ensued between the priest and Prefect.
Father Marcel who fell to his knees crying, as he pleaded for the lives
of the Tutsi, was then stabbed to death. The following day, it is
estimated that around 4,000 Tutsi who were hiding in the church
were massacred by a group of around 500 men armed with guns,
grenades and machetes.
The bodies were left in shallow graves
surrounding the church.
It is believed that 8,000 Tutsi lived on the hills of Bisesero; when the
French force arrived on 27 June they found 800.
Journalists visiting
the church in mid-August saw parishioners attending Sunday service,
ignoring the smell that indicated up to half of the population of the
Bisesero hills lay rotting in shallow graves around them.
Recommended actions:
Write a letter to your government explaining that the killers of Father
Marcel and thousands of Tutsi massacred at Mubuga church
have not
been brought to justice and;
•
Ask them to put pressure on the UN to assist the Rwandese
authorities to identify, apprehend and bring the perpetrators of
this killing to justice.
•
Ask them to help accelerate the setting up of an international
criminal tribunal for Rwanda to begin proceedings as soon as
possible.
•
Ask them to support the establishment of a permanent
international war crimes tribunal, so that governments
17
responsible for crimes against humanity are never allowed
impunity.
•
Seek assurances that no one suspected of involvement in
Rwanda's massacres escapes justice in your country.
Send a copy of one of your letters to your own government to the
Rwandese authorities10 with a covering letter asking them to:
•
Fully cooperate with the relevant UN bodies who are carrying
out inquiries into past and current allegations of human rights
violations including crimes against humanity and genocide.
Audio visual materials available:
• Photographs of a church massacre are available from the
International Secretariat for Amnesty International members only.11
10Please
address no.3 in the attached government authorities list.
11Please
request Photo Order form for use with Rapid Response Action June
1994, AFR 47/14/94 and refer to photograph nos 16-19.
18
Appeal case no.5
Siméon12, a wounded Tutsi man who was killed with five others on 14
April at a roadblock in Kigali after he was dragged from an ICRC13
ambulance which was carrying him to hospital.
"The RPF hid people, including children, girls and women, in houses
and gave them
weapons. Then they wanted to attack the roadblocks. We defended
ourselves. That's why there are bodies at roadblocks."
-Robert Kajuga, head of the Interahamwe, when asked about a pile of
young girls' bodies beside a roadblock.
Background to case:
Soon after the death of the President, members of the security forces
and gangs of Hutu men, many of them believed to be members of the
Interahamwe, erected roadblocks in Kigali in order to control all
movement in the city and to identify their enemies and Tutsi.
Although they claimed to foreigners that the purpose of this exercise
was to weed out RPF spies, it soon became clear that the roadblocks
were to be used as execution points for anyone who could be regarded
as "the enemy" or who was trying to escape; similar roadblocks were
rapidly erected by Hutu gangs all over Rwanda. Unfortunately, every
12Siméon
is not his real name.
13International
Committee of the Red Cross.
19
Rwandese citizen is required by law to carry identity cards stating
their ethnic group (their ethnic group is determined by their father's).
If anyone stopped at such a roadblock carried a card stating they
were Tutsi, they often "disappeared" or were executed on the spot.
Those carrying no card would often suffer a similar fate.
On 14 April, an ICRC ambulance carrying six injured civilians to
hospital was stopped at such a roadblock. The patients did not satisfy
the requirements of the control (it is unclear whether they were
carrying cards) and were shot dead in front of the ICRC staff who
were transporting them. On this occasion the ICRC staff escaped, but
over 100 ICRC staff were to lose their lives during the conflict in
Rwanda14.
Thousands of others were summarily executed at similar such
roadblocks all over Rwanda as they tried to escape the violence. Many
were killed either because their identity cards stated they were Tutsi,
or because they simply looked like members of the Tutsi ethnic group.
Recommended actions:
Write a letter to your government explaining that those responsible
for the killings of thousands of members of the Tutsi ethnic group have
not been brought to justice and;
•
Ask them to put pressure on the UN to assist the Rwandese
authorities to identify, apprehend and bring the perpetrators of
this killing to justice.
14See
appeal case no. 6
20
•
Ask them to help accelerate the setting up of an international
criminal tribunal for Rwanda to begin proceedings as soon as
possible.
•
Ask them to support the establishment of a permanent
international war crimes tribunal, so that governments
responsible for crimes against humanity are never allowed
impunity.
•
Seek assurances that no one suspected of involvement in
Rwanda's massacres escapes justice in your country.
Write a letter to the Rwandese authorities15;
•
Ask them to fully cooperation with the relevant UN bodies who
are carrying out inquiries in past and current allegations of
human rights violations including crimes against humanity and
genocide.
•Asking them to ensure that any identity card system in use in
Rwanda at present or in the future does not require the holder to
state his or her ethnic group.
Audio visual materials available:
•Photo available showing a Rwandese identity card. (See photo order
form.)
15Please
address no.2 & 3 in the attached government authorities list.
21
22
Appeal case no.6
Félicitas Niyitegeka was a member of a community of 30 nuns at an
Catholic centre in Gisenyi in northwestern Rwanda near the border
with Zaire. She was shot dead by members of a militia because she
had been accused of sheltering Tutsi who were fleeing from the
massacres.
"My beloved brother,
Thank you for wanting to help me. But instead of saving myself and
abandoning the 43 people in my care, I have chosen to die with them.
Pray for us, that we go to heaven, and bid farewell to my mother and
brother. When I am in heaven, I will pray for you. Look after yourself.
Thank you for thinking of me.
Your sister.
And if God spares us, as we hope, we will see each other again soon."
Félicitas Niyitegeka in a letter to her brother
Background to case:
The northwestern areas of Rwanda (around the towns of Gisenyi and
Ruhengeri) were generally spared much of the carnage caused by
massacres of Tutsi throughout the rest of the country between April
and July 1994. The reasons for this could be the low number of Tutsi
actually living in the region. The northwestern area of Rwanda was
the birthplace of President Habyarimana and his family, many of
whom were senior members of the Rwandese Armed Forces. During
early 1991, the Rwandese armed forces had been responsible for
hundreds, possibly thousands of extrajudicial executions of members of
23
the Tutsi Bagogwe clan living in the area.
The Tutsi who were seeking refuge at the Apostolate where Félicitas
Niyitegeka lived had mainly come from other parts of Rwanda and
were trying to leave the country. Many of them had not been able to
pass roadblocks in order to cross the border into Goma in
neighbouring Zaire and sought refuge with the nuns. The nuns risked
their own lives by sheltering these Tutsi from attacks by militia and
others and by helping people cross the border.
Despite pleas from her brother, who was an army colonel in
Ruhengeri, to leave the country because of the war, Félicitas insisted
on staying, saying that she would rather die with the other nuns and
those in her care, than escape alone. On 21 April, a militia unit
arrived at the apostolate and took the inhabitants, including Félicitas
to the cemetery where they found their graves already dug and
waiting. However, the militia were apparently anxious not to kill
Félicitas (because she was a relative of an army colonel), but she
insisted on dying with the others. Because of that she was shot last.
The following day, her brother arrived and opened her grave where he
found her body lying naked. He dressed the body and reburied it
himself.
Recommended actions:
Write a letter to your government explaining that the killers of a nun
named Félicitas Niyitegeka and at least 30 other displaced persons at
the apostolate in Gisenyi
•
have not been brought to justice and;
Ask them to put pressure on the UN to assist the Rwandese
authorities to identify, apprehend and bring the perpetrators of
24
this killing to justice.
•
Ask them to help accelerate the setting up of an international
criminal tribunal for Rwanda to begin proceedings as soon as
possible.
•
Ask them to support the establishment of a permanent
international war crimes tribunal, so that governments
responsible for crimes against humanity are never allowed
impunity.
•
Seek assurances that no one suspected of involvement in
Rwanda's massacres escapes justice in your country.
Send a copy of one of your letters to your own government to the
Rwandese authorities16 with a covering letter asking them to:
•
Fully cooperate with the relevant UN bodies who are carrying
out inquiries into past and current allegations of human rights
violations including crimes against humanity and genocide.
Audio visual materials available:
• Photographs of a church massacre are available from the
International Secretariat for Amnesty International members only.17
16Please
address no.3 in the attached government authorities list.
17Please
request Photo Order form for use with Rapid Response Action June
1994, AFR 47/14/94 and refer to photograph nos 16-19.
25
26
Appeal case no.7
Etienne18, a young boy of Tutsi appearance who was extrajudicially
executed with 20 other similar-looking children at an orphanage in
Butare by members of the security forces.
Sometimes I think God has abandoned Rwanda and allowed the devil
to enter the souls of the people.
Expatriate orphanage worker, shocked after witnessing an attack on a
10 year-old child.
Background to case:
After the killings and the fighting took control of Kigali, many people
including the interim government, decided to leave the city and flee
to other parts of the country or abroad. The International Committee
for the Red Cross (ICRC) quickly learned that children, the sick or
indeed their own workers were not exempt from killings. Where they
could, the ICRC evacuated orphaned children (including those who
may have recently lost their parents in the killings), out of Kigali. One
such group included 500 children from Kacyiru Orphanage in Kigali
who were moved for their own safety, both from armed conflict and
massacres, to the southern Rwandese town of Butare.
However,
killings in Butare began on 20 April when militia units under army
escort set up "execution points" in the town. On 24 April between
150 and 170 patients and staff, including children, were killed by
such units at Butare hospital. The killings in Butare lasted until the
18Etienne
is not his real name.
27
RPA took the town in late May. It is alleged by local residents that the
RPA carried out revenge killings of army and militia units who they
found in the town on arrival.
On 1 May, shortly after the evacuation of the orphans to Butare, a
group of people thought to comprise members of the security forces
and militia came to the orphanage and picked out 21 children who
they believed to be Tutsi. They also selected 13 Red Cross workers for
the same reason.
The 34 "Tutsi" were then brutally killed with
machetes in front of the other children and workers. Many thousands
of children believed to be Tutsi, were killed in Rwanda during the
massacres. In many cases those who had received formal education
were targeted before others.
Radio Libre Mille Collines (RLMC),19 a radio station which was
responsible for the broadcast of inflammatory anti-Tutsi programmes
advised its listeners to kill Tutsi children by saying: "To get the rats
you have to kill them when they are small."
Recommended actions:
Write a letter to your government explaining that those responsible
for the killings of thousands of members of the Tutsi ethnic group have
not been brought to justice and;
•
Ask them to put pressure on the UN to assist the Rwandese
authorities to identify, apprehend and bring the perpetrators of
this killing to justice.
19Free
Radio of the Thousand Hills
28
•
Ask them to help accelerate the setting up of an international
criminal tribunal for Rwanda to begin proceedings as soon as
possible.
•
Ask them to support the establishment of a permanent
international war crimes tribunal, so that governments
responsible for crimes against humanity are never allowed
impunity.
•
Seek assurances that no one suspected of involvement in
Rwanda's massacres escapes justice in your country.
Send a copy of one of your letters to your own government to the
Rwandese authorities20 with a covering letter asking them to:
•
Fully cooperate with the relevant UN bodies who are carrying
out inquiries into past and current allegations of human rights
violations including crimes against humanity and genocide.
• Ask them to ensure that any identity card system in use in Rwanda
at present or in the future does not require the holder to state his or
her ethnic group.
Audio visual materials available:
20Please
address no.2 & 3 in the attached government authorities list.
29
• Photograph available showing children at the ICRC orphanage in
Butare. (See photo order form)
30
Appeal case no.8
Felicité Dusabi is a 24 year-old Tutsi woman. She worked as a
primary school teacher. She escaped an attack by members of the
militia known in Rwanda as the
Interahamwe in Cyangugu, province
of southwestern Rwanda. Thousands of other Tutsi and known or
suspected government opponents were deliberately executed in
Cyangugu.
"Eh, miss Teacher, you are still alive?" I said yes, so he demanded
money. I had no money. He demanded a watch, which I had already
given away, so he took my skirt and let me live. I lay there covered in
blood, as they had cut off the head of a woman next to me, and her
body covered mine. They continued to beat (dead) bodies with batons,
so that when I left I had to walk on human remains. I had on only my
underwear and a jumper, the bodies were naked.
Felicité Dusabi's account.
Background to case:
The war between the RPF and the Rwandese Army resumed on 8
April after killings by the Presidential Guard and others became
known in Kigali. The declared aim of the RPF offensive was to save the
lives of Tutsi who were being subjected to horrendous human rights
violations. At the time the massacres began, the RPF had control of
the northern part of Rwanda, and part of Kigali. The RPA quickly
took control of eastern Rwanda, but the fight for the extreme south of
the country and the southwest was to be long and hard. The
consequences for the Tutsi still living in western Rwanda, particularly
in Cyangugu and Kibuye provinces were near extinction. At first many
of them took refuge in parish churches or medical centres, then
31
thousands were trapped in terrible conditions in Cyangugu stadium
(which was used to shelter displaced people). Some managed to escape
across Lake Kivu to refugee camps in Zaire.
After hiding in the bush for two days, Felicité found temporary refuge
at the parish of Shangi near Gafunzi in Cyangugu prefecture. But on
12 April the parish was attacked by gunshots, stones and machetes.
Later on the attackers returned armed with grenades to destroy the
priest's residence and the church. She thinks some 5,000 people were
killed in this attack. A week or so later, around 22 April, the local
government administrator (bourgemestre) returned with trucks
carrying militia units who attacked the refugees hiding in the church
ruins. Felicité escaped being killed and after a night amongst bodies in
the church, she then spent some time hiding in a school building. Two
Hutu women finally helped her escape to Zaire.
On 23 June France launched Opération Turquoise, whose stated aim
was to save the remaining Tutsi from further killings. However, it is
estimated that at least two thirds of the Tutsi living in southwest
Rwanda had been killed by the time French troops entered Rwanda.
On 20 September, UN soldiers found 6,000 bodies in a mass grave
near a church in Gafunzi. A further 2,000 bodies were found nearby.
Recommended actions:
Write a letter to your government explaining that those responsible
for the killings of thousands of members of the Tutsi ethnic group have
not been brought to justice and;
32
•
Ask them to put pressure on the UN to assist the Rwandese
authorities to identify, apprehend and bring the perpetrators of
this killing to justice.
•
Ask them to help accelerate the setting up of an international
criminal tribunal for Rwanda to begin proceedings as soon as
possible.
•
Ask them to support the establishment of a permanent
international war crimes tribunal, so that governments
responsible for crimes against humanity are never allowed
impunity.
•
Seek assurances that no one suspected of involvement in
Rwanda's massacres escapes justice in your country.
Send a copy of one of your letters to your own government to the
Rwandese authorities21 with a covering letter asking them to:
•
Fully cooperate with the relevant UN bodies who are carrying
out inquiries into past and current allegations of human rights
violations including crimes against humanity and genocide.
• Ask them to ensure Felicité Dusabi and others who have suffered
great personal loss and psychological torture receive appropriate
treatment and compensation.
Audio visual materials available:
21Please
address no.2 & 3 in the attached government authorities list.
33
• There is a photograph available showing an empty schoolroom;
pupils have been unable to return to school in many parts of the
country, due to the extermination of many of their schoolteachers.
(See photo order form)
34
Appeal case no.9
Jean-Marie Vianney Tavaro, a 46 year-old magistrate, was one of the
estimated 5,000 displaced held in Cyangugu stadium. They were
threatened daily with torture and execution.
In the stadium there were around 5,000 people. They would come
and kill anyone at any time. During my time there they came five
times and killed about 120 people.
These people have been killed
with knives and were not buried. They were cut in bits and left in the
road, or thrown in the river. Six bodies were left in the toilets.
Some nights, the gendarmes would rape women. One night at the end
of May, the gendarmes tortured two people non-stop all day. At first
they beat them, then they gave their victims their batons and made
them beat each other.
Most of those who survived were children or illiterate. Intellectuals and
shop keepers were the first victims.
-Jean-Marie Vianney Tavaro's account
Background to case:
Jean-Marie Vianney Tavaro was a resident of Cyangugu who was
forced to leave his home and join the many people fleeing from large
scale massacres in western Rwanda, by seeking refuge at the stadium
35
in Cyangugu. At one point it was estimated that around 5,000 men,
women and children were held in the stadium in very bad conditions.
In addition, it did not protect all of them from death and torture.
The terror many of them had already suffered or witnessed continued
to occur on a daily basis, as local officials with gendarmes and militia
units came and with lists of people to torture and execute.
On the night of 28 April, a group of around 2,000 refugees
attempted a mass escape; the gendarmes opened fire and threw
grenades, killing over 500 on that occasion. Jean-Marie was
extremely lucky to escape from Cyangugu, and subsequently cross the
border into neighbouring Zaire. Intellectuals and professionals,
whether Hutu or Tutsi, appeared to be targeted for elimination. The
apparent aim of this practice was to eliminate anyone considered to
be an opponent of former President Juvénal Habyarimana's and who
could potentially serve a democratic government which may include
members of the RPF.
Recommended actions:
Write a letter to your government explaining that those responsible
for the killings of known or suspected government opponents of the
former Rwandese government and thousands of members of the Tutsi
ethnic group have not been brought to justice and;
•
Ask them to put pressure on the UN to assist the Rwandese
authorities to identify, apprehend and bring the perpetrators of
this killing to justice.
•
Ask them to help accelerate the setting up of an international
36
criminal tribunal for Rwanda to begin proceedings as soon as
possible.
•
Ask them to support the establishment of a permanent
international war crimes tribunal, so that governments
responsible for crimes against humanity are never allowed
impunity.
•
Seek assurances that no one suspected of involvement in
Rwanda's massacres escapes justice in your country.
Send a copy of one of your letters to your own government to the
Rwandese authorities22 with a covering letter asking them to:
•
Fully cooperate with the relevant UN bodies who are carrying
out inquiries into past and current allegations of human rights
violations including crimes against humanity and genocide.
•
Ask them to ensure Jean-Marie Vianney Tavaro and others who
have suffered great personal loss and psychological torture
receive appropriate treatment and compensation.
Audio visual materials available:
• There is a photograph available showing people living in Kigali
stadium, which was also used as a refuge for Tutsi and others who
believed themselves at risk from attack from militia units and others.
(See photo order form).
22Please
address no.2 & 3 in the attached government authorities list.
37
Appeal case no.10
Sister Beninga, a Tutsi nun who had been in charge of the orphanage
in Kabgayi "disappeared" from a seminary that was being used as a
displaced persons camp at Kabgayi on 24 May.
Among those who have "disappeared", are some who have been
selected on lists; the victims of settling of scores, and the victims of
soldiers who come with civilians to kill and only to kill.
-Resident of Kabgayi camp, questioned by journalists.
Background to case:
After fleeing the initial wave of massacres, many Tutsi sought refuge
in makeshift displaced persons camps, which were often religious
complexes, large hotels or sports stadiums. In Kabgayi, a catholic
religious centre a few kilometres south of Gitarama, the seminary was
used as such a refuge, although like many others it was more like a
concentration camp, than a place from which its occupants could
leave freely.
As in many other such "refuges" in Rwanda, soldiers,
local officials and militia units would arrive to pick off a few people
they considered to be political opponents (usually Tutsi) at night.
On 24 May armed units arrived at the Kabgayi seminary camp with a
list of names and asked the Archbishop of Kigali23 who was acting as
23See
appeal case no.12
38
the head of the camp (the Rwandese interim government and other
authorities had their headquarters in nearby Gitarama after heavy
fighting had forced them to leave Kigali) for permission to arrest 15
clerics who were sheltered there. The 15 arrested included Sister
Beninga. This particular group were apparently selected because the
authorities claimed they were suspected of collaborating with the RPF.
It seems that a trip abroad by Sister Beninga a few years earlier was
a reason for suspecting her.
None of the 15 or others that were abducted from the seminary have
been seen since. It seems certain that they were executed. Over 500
people out of around 20,000 sheltering at the camp were said to
have been abducted in the same manner or killed in front of others
during the last two weeks of May.
Recommended actions:
Write a letter to your government explaining that those responsible
for the killings of known or suspected government opponents of the
former Rwandese government and thousands of members of the Tutsi
ethnic group have not been brought to justice and;
•
Ask them to put pressure on the UN to assist the Rwandese
authorities to identify, apprehend and bring the perpetrators of
this killing to justice.
•
Ask them to help accelerate the setting up of an international
criminal tribunal for Rwanda to begin proceedings as soon as
possible.
39
•
Ask them to support the establishment of a permanent
international war crimes tribunal, so that governments
responsible for crimes against humanity are never allowed
impunity.
•
Seek assurances that no one suspected of involvement in
Rwanda's massacres escapes justice in your country.
Send a copy of one of your letters to your own government to the
Rwandese authorities24 with a covering letter asking them to:
•
Fully cooperate with the relevant UN bodies who are carrying
out inquiries into past and current allegations of human rights
violations including crimes against humanity and genocide.
Audio visual materials available:
• There is a photograph available of Kabgayi seminary. (See photo
order form)
24Please
address no.2 & 3 in the attached government authorities list.
40
Appeal case no.11
Brother Célestin,25 a Tutsi member of the Josephite order was one of
over hundreds of people, many of whom were children, killed by
militia at the Parish of Saint André in Nyamirambo, a district in
southwest Kigali in early June.
"You know father, I don't feel sorry for them." The militia then
smashed the door of the parish and took away the refugees in
truckloads. They were brave people they took, people that we had
hidden and lived with for two months. Amongst them, there were
many children; orphans of the war and of AIDS. We managed to
escape, but a bit later on as we hid by the side of the road we saw the
lorry parked less that 200 metres away from the parish. They were
in the process of unloading the bodies of people taken from our parish
and throwing them into a mass grave, which had obviously been dug
in preparation.
Henri Blanchard, French White Father from Saint André Parish.
Background to case:
On 5 June, the headquarters of the UN Assistance Mission to Rwanda
(UNAMIR) in Kigali received a letter from a Josephite community
which claimed to be in danger. The community included two
European White Fathers, who had been living at Saint André Parish in
Nyamirambo, had been sheltering hundreds of displaced Tutsi. Those
"in hiding" included displaced Tutsi and other members of the religious
community.
On Tuesday 7 June, a militia unit arrived, assisted by
two soldiers, and opened fire on a crowd of Tutsi they found in refuge
there. Around 80 people, mainly Tutsi, were killed including Brother
25Brother
Céléstin is not his real name.
41
Céléstin and six other Josephite Brothers. On Wednesday 8 June, a
French journalist who came to the parish was fired on and injured by
militia members; the two expatriate priests considered this to be an
"advertisement" and a warning that they too would be killed. On
Friday 10 June at around 3pm, a well-known militia leader arrived
saying he had come to evacuate the displaced. The expatriate priests
refused to let him in, so the militia proceeded to open fire on the
church and threw in teargas grenades, forcing the occupants out. The
displaced were loaded onto lorries and taken away amid confusion
and shots fired by the militia. Nearby, RPF soldiers were battling for
control of Kigali. The lorry returned to pick up another load.
Around
170 people were believed to have been taken.
As the two expatriate fathers were leaving the Parish on their way to
being evacuated out of Rwanda, they saw the lorry again. This time
the lorry was unloading corpses, of which the two priests identified
people who they had lived with for the last two months.
On 4 July the RPF finally captured Kigali and the militia killings were
finally halted in the town. Nyamirambo, a Hutu stronghold, was one
of the last areas to fall. Many Tutsi who had been hiding for months
in roofs and pits came to the Parish of St. André to find food and
shelter.
Recommended actions:
Write a letter to your government explaining that those responsible
for the killings of several hundred people who were sheltering at St
André Parish Church in Nyamirambo and thousand of other people
massacred in this district
have not been brought to justice and;
42
•
Ask them to put pressure on the UN to assist the Rwandese
authorities to identify, apprehend and bring the perpetrators of
this killing to justice.
•
Ask them to help accelerate the setting up of an international
criminal tribunal for Rwanda to begin proceedings as soon as
possible.
•
Ask them to support the establishment of a permanent
international war crimes tribunal, so that governments
responsible for crimes against humanity are never allowed
impunity.
•
Seek assurances that no one suspected of involvement in
Rwanda's massacres escapes justice in your country.
Send a copy of one of your letters to your own government to the
Rwandese authorities26 with a covering letter asking them to:
•
Fully cooperate with the relevant UN bodies who are carrying
out inquiries into past and current allegations of human rights
violations including crimes against humanity and genocide.
Audio visual materials available:
• There is a photograph available of an Amnesty International delegate
in Nyamirambo. (See photo order form.)
26Please
address no.2 & 3 in the attached government authorities list.
43
• There is video footage of Amnesty International in Rwanda which
shows delegates examining the wreckage of Nyamirambo district. (See
Rwanda Electronic News Release, August 199427)
27
This is available from the International Secretariat.
44
Appeal case no.12
Thadée Nsengiyumva, Bishop of Kabgayi and President of Rwanda's
Conference of Catholic Bishops, was a victim of deliberate and
arbitrary killing, along with two other bishops and 10 priests by
soldiers of the RPA around 5 June.
"Aren't you surprised that soldiers who have had their own families
massacred have restrained themselves up to now?...Why should you
want to use one incident involving four soldiers to show the discipline
of our force?"
RPF spokesman in response to questions about the killing.
Background to case:
At the beginning of June 1994, soldiers of the RPA captured the seat
of the interim Rwandese government at Gitarama and moved south
towards the southern town of Butare. Just south of Gitarama they
took the town of Kabgayi, where many people had been living for
weeks in the seminary under the "protection" of high ranking
clergymen28. The RPA "liberated" the two towns and captured a
number of Rwandese soldiers and government officials. They also
arrested a number of Rwanda's leading clergymen who were at the
seminary including Thadée Nsengiyumva and Vincent Nsengiyumva,
the Archbishop of Kigali.
On Wednesday 8 June, Radio Muhubura29 announced that four RPA
soldiers
were responsible for the killing of 13 prominent clergymen,
including the Archbishop of Kigali and Bishop of Kabgayi in a "revenge
28See
appeal case no.9.
29Radio
Muhubura was at the time the official RPF-run radio station.
45
shooting" while they were under the guard of eight RPA soldiers near
Kabgayi. The date was not given, but subsequent reports suggest that
the killing occurred on Sunday 5 June.
The RPF subsequently declared that the combatants had been assigned
to the bishops as their bodyguards.
On 9 June RPF leaders
announced that one of the killers had been shot dead by fellow soldiers
as he fled and that the other three had escaped.
RPF leaders
explained that the combatants seemed to have carried out the killings
because they suspected the priests of complicity in the killing of
members of their families, including some Tutsi who had sought
shelter at Kabgayi seminary.
One priest who managed to survive and escape from the killings
claimed that some of the soldiers who had been guarding the priests
entered the room where the priests were being held and opened fire.
He was later pressured by RPA soldiers into claiming the shooting was
an accident.
Members of the Rwandese government told Amnesty International in
August that the three killers who had escaped had never been found30.
Recommended actions:
Write a letter to the Rwandese authorities31 stating your concern at
the summary execution of Thadée Nsengiyumva 12 other clergymen
on 5 June 1994
30See
and;
Rwanda: Reports of killings and abductions by the Rwandese Patriotic
Army, April-August 1994, October 1994. AFR 47/16/94
31Please
address authorities 1, 2, 3 in the attached government authorities
46
•
Ask the government to implement Amnesty International's
14-point program with a view to ending the practice of
extrajudicial and summary execution.
•
Explain that you feel that there has not been an adequate (full
and impartial) investigation into the killings at Kabgayi. Ask the
government to properly investigate
the incident at Kabgayi
and all other allegations of abuses committed by members of the
RPA since 7 April 1994 and bring the perpetrators to justice in
respect of relevant international standards for fair trial.
Audio visual materials available:
•Photo available of Rwanda's leading Bishops. (See photo order form)
list.
47
Appeal case no.13
Violette Mukabutera, a Hutu woman from southern Rwanda is a
victim of attempted extrajudicial execution.
My child was with me [on her back], but because we had been found,
we were told to lie on our fronts. My child was hit by a nail-studded
club and was killed. I was hit as well, but I was left for dead. When I
regained consciousness, I carried on...
Violette's testimony.
Background to case:
After RPA forces took control of the region of Bugesera in
southeastern Rwanda in May, there were numerous reports from local
people that the forces were carrying out executions of members of the
Hutu ethnic group in southern Rwanda. Some of the witnesses to these
attacks, including some who had survived attempts to kill them, fled
to neighbouring Burundi.
Violette Mukubutera formerly resident in Kigali prefecture's rural
Ngenda district, and many others who had been hiding in sorghum
fields in Muyira district in Butare prefecture after the RPA took
control of the area, began returning home when they heard that the
RPA had stopped killings.
They handed themselves over to the RPA
and were taken to a "screening" centre at Rutonde where they were
detained. On her second day there young men were taken away; on
the third day her husband was taken away. A man who had been
48
taken away with her husband managed to return and reported that
those taken away, including her husband, had been tied up, hit on the
head and killed, and that their corpses were being thrown into a river
nearby. Some of the women detainees were allegedly taken away by
RPA soldiers and raped, and possible killed afterwards. Violette tried
to escape with her child of 13 months strapped to her back but was
subsequently recaptured with several other women escapees by RPA
soldiers. The soldiers killed two other women with blows to the head
and killed her child. Violette was hit on the head with a nail-studded
club but survived. She subsequently managed to escape.
Amnesty International has received many reports of deliberate and
arbitrary killings by members of the RPA, carried out both before and
after the RPF formed a government on 19 July32.
Recommended actions:
Write a letter to the Rwandese authorities33 stating your concern at
the attempted execution of Violette Mukubutera, the killing of her
child and the "disappearance" of her husband and;
•
Ask the government to implement Amnesty International's
14-point program with a view to ending the practice of
extrajudicial and summary execution.
32See
"Rwanda: Reports of killings and abductions by the Rwandese Patriotic
Army, April- August 1994. AFR 47/16/94
33Please
list.
address authorities 1, 2, 3 in the attached government authorities
49
•
Ask the government to investigate all allegations of abuses
committed by members of the RPA since 7 April 1994 and
bring the perpetrators to justice in accordance with relevant
international standards for fair trial.
Audio visual materials available:
• There is a photograph available of Violette Mukabutera. (See photo
order form.)
• There is video footage available. (See Rwanda ENR October 1994
34This
can be requested from the International Secretariat.
34)
50
Appeal case no.14
Julienne Mukanyarwaya, a Hutu supporter of Rwanda's Social
Democratic Party was asked to join the militia responsible for
thousands of deaths. She was arrested by the RPF in May at Kabuga,
just outside Kigali and is still awaiting trial.
I was never in the MRND or the CDR. They forced people in other
parties to join the Interahamwe. We were forced. I was captured from
the village and instructed to kill people.
The first people I killed were
opposed to the MRND. I killed three people, three men. I knew them,
they were my neighbours.
It was very sad to me. But I didn't have any alternative, because the
government soldiers were behind me with guns. I lost my child. When I
refused to kill, the government soldiers banged a gun on my child's
head and she died. She was six weeks old.
Julienne's testimony
Background to case:
Julienne was one of the many women and men who became members
of the Interahamwe of the hard line Hutu militia units that was
responsible for thousands of killings in Rwanda. In many cases, people
were incited and often forced to kill their fellow villagers, neighbours
and in some cases, members of their own family, who were politically
opposed to the genocide or refused to take part.
As the RPF took control of the country, some Hutu suspected of being
Interahamwe members were killed in revenge by RPF soldiers, or local
Tutsi. Some, like Julienne who was arrested at Kabuga35 in central
35Amnesty
held at Kabuga.
International does not know if Julienne Mukanyarwaya is being
51
Rwanda in May, escaped immediate retribution but may be held for
many months in makeshift and overcrowded prisons before trials are
underway. Some of the prisoners allege that they have also been
subjected to torture or other forms of cruel, inhuman and degrading
treatment. Although Julienne was unlucky to lose her child, other
women held by the RPF have their children to look after in custody,
often in filthy living conditions.
In August Amnesty International representatives visited Rwanda and
found Kigali central Prison, the main criminal detention centre in
Rwanda, empty. The prison buildings were in a terrible state of
disrepair and the interior of the prison was filthy. The Minister of
Justice explained how the prison could not be used unless drastic
repairs and financing restored it to a suitable place of detention. Two
weeks after the departure of the delegation, it was understood that
2,000 prisoners were transferred there.
Under Rwandese law, Julienne could be sentenced to death if and
when she is tried.
Recommended actions:
Write a letter to your own government stating your concern about
this case and;
•
Ask your government to assert pressure at the UN to urge the
international community to assist Rwanda in establishing fair
trials at once.
52
Write a letter to the Rwandese authorities36 stating your concern at
the plight of thousands of Rwandese being held in deplorable
conditions awaiting trial and;
•
Ask the government to ensure that all prisoners are given access
to their families.
•
Ask the government to ensure that the prisoners are vetted and
only kept if there is specific evidence against them which could
result in their conviction by a court; urge that any who are held
on the basis of hearsay or confessions under duress be released.
•
Urge that anyone who is to be tried should be given legal
representation.
•
Ask the government to treat all prisoners humanely and to give
orders to its armed forces that ill-treatment
and torture will
not be tolerated and those found responsible for committing
torture will be brought to justice.
•
Explain that Amnesty International and others are urging the
UN to work with the Rwandese authorities in bringing those
responsible for killings in Rwanda to justice.
•
Ask the government to abolish the death penalty, arguing that
one death does not avenge another.
36Please
list.
address authorities 1, 2, 3 in the attached government authorities
53
Audio visual materials available:
•There is a photograph available showing suspected members of the
Interahamwe held by RPA soldiers. (See photo order form).
•There is video footage available showing prisoners held by the RPF
and the interior of Kigali prison just days before it was filled with
prisoners. (See Rwanda ENR, August 199437)
37On
request from the International Secretariat.
54
Appeal case no.15
Sylvestre Kamali, a Hutu, is a former Rwandese ambassador and
President of the Gisenyi branch of the Mouvement démocratique
républicain (MDR) the Democratic Republican Movement, the largest
opposition party in Rwanda when President Juvénal Habyarimana
was in power. He is currently held without having the possibility of
challenging either the legal basis for his detention or accusations
against him. He is accused of involvement in the massacre of Tutsi
between April and July 1994. The accusations have not been the
subject of an independent investigation. Reports suggest that Sylvestre
Kamali is being held because of his political opinions, if this is indeed
the case, he may be a prisoner of conscience.
The soldiers only asked for his vehicle registration card when they
arrested him. He said "It must be a mistake.
If the President or the Prime Minister learns of this, I will be freed".
The soldiers advised him to write a letter.
A military official told journalists that
Sylvestre Kamali had been indifferent to the genocide. Now he is
accused of genocide.
-Monique Kamali (Sylvestre Kamali's daughter.)
Background to case:
Sylvestre Kamali was arrested at a roadblock in Kigali by RPA soldiers
on 14 July, apparently after he was accused of involvement in
massacres perpetrated mainly against Tutsi. However, the reasons for
his arrest and the location his place of detention was not made public
until several weeks after his arrest, despite numerous appeals to the
authorities by Amnesty International and others. He was interviewed
55
in August 1994 by Amnesty International delegates at Rulima Prison
in southern Rwanda. He was held for several weeks without being
informed of the reasons for his detention. The accusations were made
known to him by a journalist who interviewed him. He apparently
thought he had been arrested for a traffic offence. After numerous
inquiries about his case by foreign organizations, the authorities
assisted his wife (who lives in Kigali) to visit him. He has since been
transferred to Kigali Central Prison.
It appears that he may have been arrested on the basis of
denunciations; that is an allegation against him which is not
substantiated by other testimony or evidence. Such denunciations have
so far led to the arrest of over 6,000 Rwandese, almost entirely of
the Hutu ethnic group.
In January 1993 his home in Gisenyi was destroyed in an arson
attack. The house where the family moved to in Kigali was also
invaded twice by armed gangs and during February 1993 attempts
were reportedly made to kill him and his wife, who is a member of
the Tutsi ethnic group. It seems that the family was targeted at the
time for its opposition to the policies of former President
Habyarimana. The case of the Kamali family was taken up by
Amnesty International in August 1993.
There are reports that his
current detention relates to his support of a faction of the MDR
opposed to Prime Minister Faustin Twagiramungu, who is also a
leader of the MDR.
Recommended actions:
56
Write a letter to the Rwandese authorities38 stating your concern at
the arrest of Sylvestre Kamali
•
and;
Seek assurances that arrests are not made on the basis of
denunciations.
•
In addition, seek assurances that arrest are not made on the
basis of non-violent political opposition to the government in
order to prevent the detention of prisoners of conscience, that
is, those held on the basis of their ethnic origin or political views.
•
Ask for the establishment of an independent body to review the
cases of those arrested and held for involvement in massacres in
order to ascertain whether their continuing long term detention
without trial is justified39.
•
Ask the Rwandese government to abolish the death penalty,
arguing that one death does not avenge another.
Write a letter to your own government about the case of Sylvestre
38Please
address authorities 1, 2, 3 in the attached government authorities
list.
39
Amnesty International considers that Sylvestre Kamali and others held by
the Rwandese authorities may be prisoners of conscience, however in the absence of
normal legal authorities (Rwanda's infrastructure has been largely destroyed by the
war) it is difficult to implement recognized international standards in judicial
procedures and thus to confirm who is a prisoner of conscience. Normally, Amnesty
International seeks the immediate and unconditional release of prisoners of
conscience.
57
Kamali and;
•
Ask them to assist the Rwandese authorities in bringing to
justice those responsible for massacres between April and July in
accordance with international standards as soon as possible.
Audio visual materials available:
•There is a photograph of Sylvestre Kamali available. (See photo order
form)
58
Rwanda Appeal cases
Rwanda government authorities for use in appeals
1.
Président Pasteur BIZIMUNGU
Présidence de la république
BP 15
Kigali
Rwanda
2.
Prime Minister Faustin TWAGIRAMUNGU
Présidence de la république
BP 15
Kigali
Rwanda
3.
Monsieur Alphonse-Marie NKUBITO
Ministre de la justice
Ministère de la justice
Kigali
Rwanda
4.
Major General Paul Kagame
Minister of Defence
Présidence de la république
BP 15
Kigali
Rwanda
59
As there is currently no postal service to Rwanda (November 1994)
please send all appeals care of the RPF representatives in Belgium at the
following address:
RPF
3, rue de l'Observatoire
Bruxelles
Belgium
