International watchdog community has called for Rwanda
government to ensure a thorough, independent, and transparent investigation
into the death in
police custody of Kizito Mihigo, a well-known singer and activist.
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| Kizito Mihigo |
Human Rights Watch, Amnesty
International, and the Commonwealth Human Rights initiative have called for accountability for Mihigo's death before and during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting scheduled to take place in Kigali in June 2020.
His death adds to the list of disappearances, murders, and suspicious deaths of perceived critics and opponents of the Rwandan government, and the authorities’ failure to deliver justice in these cases sends a deliberately chilling message.
The
Rwanda National Police announced on February 17, 2020 that Mihigo had
been found dead at 5 a.m. in his cell at the Remera Police
Station in Kigali, the capital, in an alleged suicide.
He had recently told
Human Rights Watch that he was being threatened to provide false testimony
against political opponents and wanted to flee the country because he feared
for his safety.
In 2014, Mihigo was
held incommunicado for nine days, during which he was beaten and forced to
confess to crimes with which he was later charged in court.
“Whatever
the cause of Kizito Mihigo’s death, Rwandan police were responsible for his
life and safety in detention,” said Lewis Mudge, Central Africa director at Human
Rights Watch. “When it comes to rule of law and respect for human rights,
Rwanda’s partners and donors should not be silent. They should call for a
credible investigation and an unequivocal commitment to deliver justice for
this critical case.”
The
Rwanda Investigation Bureau (RIB) said Mihigo was
handed over by “security organs” on February 13, 2020, near the
border with Burundi in Nyaruguru District, and charged with attempting to
illegally cross the border, joining “terrorist groups,” and corruption.
The
Rwanda National Police did not provide further information in its February 17
statement to support its conclusion that Mihigo had committed suicide.
Marie Michelle Umuhoza,
the spokesperson
for the investigation bureau, later told local media that Mihigo had
used bedsheets to “strangle himself” and that his body has been taken to
Kacyiru Hospital for a post-mortem examination.
An
independent autopsy report should be commissioned, and judicial authorities
should ensure that any investigation establishes Mihigo’s treatment in
detention and examines the possibility that he could have been ill-treated or
killed in custody, Human Rights Watch said.
Under
international human rights law, Rwandan authorities have an obligation to
conduct a thorough and independent investigation and to account for any death
in custody. The investigation should identify anyone responsible if his death
was due to negligence or unlawful action and should lead to their prosecution.
Failure to investigate and prosecute anyone responsible would violate Rwanda’s
obligations to protect people from arbitrary deprivation of life and to provide
an effective remedy.
On
April 6, 2014, Mihigo was
arrested and detained in an unknown location until April 14,
when he was presented to the media during a press conference. He was taken
before a prosecutor the next day.
Before
and during his incommunicado detention, senior government officials repeatedly
questioned him about a song he had
released the month before in which he prayed for victims of the
country’s 1994 genocide as well as for victims of other violence. They also
questioned him about his alleged links with the Rwanda National Congress (RNC),
an exiled opposition party with recently
reported ties to armed groups.
Mihigo
told Human Rights Watch that police officers beat him and forced him to confess
to the offenses with which he was later charged in court.
He and his co-accused –
Cassien Ntamuhanga, a journalist, Agnès Niyibizi, and Jean-Paul Dukuzumuremyi,
a demobilized soldier – were charged with, among other things, offenses against
the state and complicity in terrorist acts for allegedly collaborating with
groups considered by the government to be enemies of Rwanda.
In November 2014, he confessed to
all the charges, although he later told Human Rights Watch he did so
under duress.
In
February 2015, the High Court in Kigali sentenced
Mihigo to 10 years in prison for alleged formation of a
criminal gang, conspiracy to murder, and conspiracy against the established
government or the president. Ntamuhanga was sentenced to 25 years in prison and
Dukuzumuremyi to 30 years. Niyibizi, accused of carrying money to assist in the
alleged offenses, was acquitted.
Ntamuhanga reportedly
escaped Nyanza prison on October 31, 2017, alongside two other
convicts.
Mihigo
was among the 2,000 prisoners
released in September 2018 after a presidential pardon, which
also included high-profile political opposition figure Victoire
Ingabire.
Since then, at least
four opposition members and one journalist have either died or
disappeared in mysterious circumstances in Rwanda. Although the
investigation bureau said they opened investigations into these cases, Human
Rights Watch has not been able to determine that any of the findings were made public
or if anyone was prosecuted.
Mihigo
is not the first detainee to die in police
custody in Rwanda.
In April 2018, 10 days
after he was arrested, police said Donat
Mutunzi, a lawyer, hanged himself in his cell at Ndera police
station. According to reports, the autopsy
revealed “severe wounds” on his face and temples. In February
2015, Emmanuel Gasakure, a cardiologist and former doctor to President Paul
Kagame, was reportedly shot dead by
police while in custody at Remera Police Station. A police
spokesperson alleged in a statement to the media that Gasakure
was attempting to disarm a guard when he was shot.
Human
Rights Watch has documented numerous cases of arbitrary arrests, detentions,
prosecutions, killings, torture, enforced disappearances, threats, harassment,
and intimidation against government opponents and critics in Rwanda.
In addition to the
repression of critical voices inside Rwanda, dissidents and real or perceived critics
outside the country – in neighbouring Uganda and Kenya, as well
as farther afield in South Africa and Europe – have been attacked and
threatened.
Rwanda
is set to host the next Commonwealth
Heads of Government Meeting, which will include discussions on
governance and rule of law. The meeting is expected to bring together leaders
of 53 Commonwealth countries in Kigali in June. The Commonwealth should
publicly raise concerns about grave human rights violations in Rwanda, Human
Rights Watch said.
“Ahead
of the Commonwealth meeting, its members should demand accountability for
Mihigo’s death,” Mudge said. “They should speak out strongly and in public,
including in Kigali, if Rwanda continues to undercut the Commonwealth’s
values.”
On its part, the Rwanda
government has ruled out an external inquiry into the death of Kizito Mihigo,
saying the country has competent and qualified institutions to carry out
professional investigations.
“What those watchdogs are saying is simply
their wishes but we have competent and independent organs that can do that,” Marie
Michelle Umuhoza, Spokesperson of Rwanda Investigative Bureau said.
“Besides that, Rwanda
is a sovereign country and the investigations are being carried out in private
as the law on criminal procedure requires.” She insisted. - Africa
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