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