TWO GENERALS ACQUITTED OF OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE

C O N F I D E N T I A L KIGALI 000849

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/25/2017
TAGS: PGOV PHUM RW
SUBJECT: TWO GENERALS ACQUITTED OF OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE
CHARGES

REF: A. KIGALI 747


B. KIGALI 743

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


1. (SBU) On September 21, a military court acquitted
Generals Frank Rusegara and Sam Kanyemera Kaka of obstruction
of justice charges. Rusegara, the head of a military
training school, and Kaka, a retired officer now serving as a
member of parliament for the ruling RPF, had been granted
bail on August 17 (ref A). Each stood accused of interfering
with police officers attempting to arrest a local
businessman, Assinapol Rwigara, at the funeral of a prominent
Rwandan. Police had sought the businessman for his role in
the collapse of a building site in which several workers lost
their lives (ref B).


2. (C) Polchief spoke with Kaka's defense counsel September
24, who expressed satisfaction with the judgment, terming the
military court proceeding "very fair," and one that was "open
to our arguments." He noted the court had rejected Kaka's
contention that it lacked jurisdiction over him as a serving
member of parliament, deciding instead that Kaka's immunity
had been correctly lifted in advance of his arrest. The
military court, said the lawyer, had judged the case on its
merits, and found the prosecution's case to be wanting. As a
majority of the witness statements did not support the
prosecution's case, said the lawyer, the decision to acquit
was "sensible." The counsel noted that the court proceeding
had been conducted solely upon those witness statements, with
no live testimony by witnesses for either side.


3. (C) Polchief also spoke with military prosecutor Captain
Kayijuka Ngabo on September 24. Ngabo said the court had
apparently decided that the police officers attempting to
arrest the businessman had sought a "scapegoat" to explain
their failure to arrest Rwigara (note: himself the object of
continuing investigation, following his release on bail
August 27). Ngabo agreed that a majority of witness
statements did not support the notion that the generals had
interfered with the police officers, although, he said, many
of those interviewed had not been in a position to accurately
describe what had happened in the context of a sprawling
funeral interrupted by the appearance of the police officers.
Ngabo commented that the prosecution had thirty days to
appeal the decision, and his office was "considering its
options."


4. (C) Comment. The two generals appear to have benefited
from a large sympathy vote amongst the funeral-goers, many of
whom were offended by the appearance of the police to arrest
the businessman, and refused to cooperate with the
prosecution. As noted in ref B, senior police commanders had
complained bitterly to their military counterparts about the
treatment their officers had received at the funeral, and the
military prosecutor's office had felt compelled to act.
Despite rumors circulating about the relationship between the
generals and the businessman, and how the two cases
supposedly showed who was up and who was down in the inner
circles of the government and the RPF, we find this case to
be a rather straightforward example of the proper functioning
of the rule of law. End comment.


ARIETTI