REPORTS OF EXTRA-JUDICAL KILLINGS BY THE RWANDAN

C O N F I D E N T I A L KIGALI 000454

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/11/2017
TAGS: PGOV PHUM RW
SUBJECT: REPORTS OF EXTRA-JUDICAL KILLINGS BY THE RWANDAN
POLICE

REF: A. 2006 HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT FOR RWANDA

B. KIGALI 110

Classified By: Ambassador Michael R. Arietti, reason 1.4 (B/D)


1. (C) Summary. Dutch colleagues, the local representative
of Human Rights Watch, and the Executive Secretary of
LIPRODHOR (Rwanda's most well-known human rights
organization) report 8 to 10 incidents of extrajudicial
killings by Rwandan police since the new year, mostly in
April. The majority of these incidents involve the shooting
by police, in suspicious circumstances, of suspected
attackers of genocide survivors. Embassy convened a
roundtable discussion of these events with diplomatic
colleagues to discuss potential responses by the donor
community. Some EU missions will consider formal approaches
to the GOR by their respective ambassadors. The embassy will
raise the issue in a forthcoming human rights dialogue with
Rwandan officials. Local human rights organizations are
pooling their information and will approach senior police
commanders soon. End summary.


2. (C) Embassy convened a meeting on May 9 of Dutch,
German, British and Swedish diplomatic colleagues to discuss
disturbing reports of extra-judicial killings by the Rwandan
National Police (RNP) in recent days. Dutch colleagues
reported eight separate incidents in the month of April, most
involving the shooting of suspected attackers of genocide
survivors in circumstances suggesting premeditated action.
As occurred in a disturbing incident in November 2006
(detailed in ref A),in most of these incidents the police
reportedly shot and killed suspects in custody who "attempted
to escape" following arrest. However, one or two of these
incidents did not involve attacks on genocide survivors, but
rather ordinary criminals under arrest who were subsequently
shot dead while "escaping."


3. (C) Local Human Rights Watch officer Chris Huggins, who
also attended the May 9 roundtable, detailed similar findings
in regard to several incidents in January, February and April
(his and the Dutch list of incidents overlapped in many
respects). According to Huggins, who personally conducted
inquiries in several rural villages, attacks on genocide
survivors or witnesses resulted in arrests, and then
shootings as police either began transfer of suspects to
central incarceration facilities, or took suspects to the
site of alleged attacks. Huggins stated that he had witness
statements in several incidents that indicated shootings of
suspects at close range to the head.


4. (C) Huggins indicated that LIPRODHOR had also been
conducting inquiries into police shootings, and he shared a
copy of one LIPRODHOR report, which detailed at length two
incidents. One in January involved the shooting by police of
four of seven suspected killers of a genocide survivor, again
while "attempting to escape." In its report, LIPRODHOR
recorded that three of the four were severely beaten before
being shot ("ces gens avaient ete serieusement frappe avant
de'etre fusilles). The other incident detailed in the
LIPRODHOR report concerned the police shooting of a suspect
in a brutal rape and murder, not connected to any genocide
case.


5. (C) The Dutch diplomat at the roundtable discussion said
that her ambassador had raised these incidents with Minister
of Justice Tharcisse Karugarama, who professed to be ignorant
of them, but "promised to look into them." The Dutch
ambassador had also raised these incidents with his EU
colleagues, encouraging a united appeal to the GOR to
investigate these incidents.


6. (C) Subsequently, polchief met with LIPRODHOR on May 14
to discuss these incidents. Executive Secretary
Jean-Baptiste Ntibagorora detailed 10 incidents since the
first of the year, one in January, eight in April, and one in
May (his April list and the Dutch list may be the same).
Five cases involved suspects in attacks on or the murder of
genocide survivors, three cases concerned violent crimes
unconnected to the genocide, and one, he said, involved two
men suspected of having shown "genocide ideology" during the
national week of mourning in April (the May case had yet to
be investigated, he said). Nearly every case, said
Ntibagorora followed the same pattern: the suspects had been
arrested by police, held in a local cachot (a small police
lockup) taken by police from the chachot, and then shot
"while attempting to escape." Ntibagorora said LIPRODHOR had

investigated 8 of the ten cases, and had approached the
police on the scene in each of those cases. The police
explanation was always the same: the individuals had fled
from the police and been shot while doing so. In no case did
the police explain why, he said, they had not taken measures
to restrain the suspects before taking them from the cachot.
In two cases, said Ntibagorora, the suspects had been shot in
the forehead.


7. (C) Ntibagorora said that these police shootings stood
in sharp contrast to 2006, when LIPRODHOR spent much effort,
as did other local human rights organizations, working with
police on the conduct of proper arrest procedures. He had no
proof, he said, that any directive had been issued from
senior ranks authorizing or condoning such behavior, but the
pattern of police misconduct was "very worrisome." He noted
that the cases were found throughout the country, in Kigali
itself, and in the eastern, western, and the southern
provinces. He thought it possible, he said, that President
Kagame's forthright speech at genocide commemoration
ceremonies in early April, calling for greater security for
survivors and witnesses, had been taken "far too much to
heart" by local police commanders.


8. (C) LIPRODHOR, said Ntibagorora, was discussing these
cases with other local human rights organizations, including
ADL (Rwandan Association for the Defense of Human Rights and
Liberties),ARDO (Rwandan Association for the Defense of
Human Rights),LDGL (League of Human Rights for the Great
Lakes),and Kanyarwanda. The organizations had decided to
pool their information and make a joint appeal to the senior
police commanders, both to strengthen their message, and
counter any suggestion that their individual organizations
were biased, ill-informed or "uncooperative" with
authorities.


9. (C) Comment. The month of April is an emotionally
charged time in Rwanda, a time when the nation mourns its
dead in the 1994 genocide, but, also, unfortunately, a time
when attacks on genocide witnesses and survivors can spike,
and police and other security officials are under great
pressure to increase security and protect those at risk.
Several cases do not involve genocide survivors or witnesses,
but a general sense of heightened security in April may have
influenced local police commanders. Whatever the reason for
these incidents, any extrajudicial killings of crime suspects
are obviously unacceptable and certainly illegal under
Rwandan law. We are in the process of preparing for another
in our continuing series of human rights dialogues with the
GOR, and one of the topics will be these reports of
extra-judicial killings by the Rwandan police. We will
continue to speak with our diplomatic colleagues on this
issue, and with local human rights organizations. End
comment.
ARIETTI