RWANDA - SPANISH INDICTMENTS "MERE ARROGANCE"

C O N F I D E N T I A L KIGALI 000369

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/22/2013
TAGS: PREL PGOV RW
SUBJECT: RWANDA - SPANISH INDICTMENTS "MERE ARROGANCE"

REF: A. KIGALI 292 (NOTAL)

B. KIGALI 325 (NOTAL)

Classified By: Amb. Arietti for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (U) Government of Rwanda (GOR) officials, including
President Paul Kagame and Minister of Justice Tharcisse
Karugarama, continue their campaign against the Spanish
indictment of 40 Rwandan military officials (reftels). In
comments delivered to commemorate Israel's 60th year, Kagame
called the indictments "mere arrogance" and lamented, "Some
in the more powerful parts of the world have given themselves
the right to extend their national jurisdiction to indict
weaker nations." The African Union's Pan-African Parliament
and the Global Pan-African Movement based in Uganda have
added their support to this assessment, condemning the
Spanish and previous French indictments and calling them
efforts by "colonial tormentors" to "intimidate and
disrespect" Africans.


2. (U) Domestically, the GOR responded to the indictments by
calling a special session in Parliament in which three
"international legal experts" (who all happened to be
Rwandan, including Karugarama) denounced them as
"politically-motivated, fraudulent, inappropriate," and meant
to "destabilize Rwanda." The panel criticized the way in
which the indictments were issued, citing poor investigation
tactics and the secrecy surrounding witnesses credited with
many of the most controversial accusations. The panel
concluded the GOR could accept the principle of "universal
jurisdiction" used in the indictments, but only in cases
where it is "well-applied." Karugarama also reported the GOR
was considering pursuing legal action against the Spanish
judge who issued the indictments as they had done against the
judge who authored the French indictments. He questioned the
legality of the indictments and said deniers of the 1994
genocide had been responsible for them.


3. (C) GOR officials maintained this position in private
conversations with the Ambassador and other Emboffs.
Emmanuel Ndahiro, head of the National Security Services,
spoke with the Ambassador and pointed out the swift and
negative U.S. response to attempts to apply universal
jurisdiction against its own officials (Donald Rumsfeld,
Henry Kissinger). He asked why the U.S. was not willing, as
a friend to the GOR, to apply the same standard to the
Spanish indictments. Ndahiro also said the indictments drew
upon false information from anti-GOR individuals in Europe
and the Spanish judge made no attempts to contact the GOR to
verify or further investigate their claims. Ben Rutsinga,
Director for International Organizations in the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, expressed similar frustrations about the
international response. He said arguments citing Spanish
judicial independence and "so-called freedom of expression"
were allowing the judiciary to be used by FDLR terrorists and
genocide-deniers to pursue a political attack against the
GOR. He predicted indictments against Rwandan political
leaders would follow if the GOR did not forcefully respond to
the current ones. Rutsinga suggested one of the indictees
should allow himself to be arrested, thereby testing the
indictments in court and "clearing the air." He said,
indictments in court and "clearing the air." He said,
however, such a tactic would take years to be resolved and
was unlikely to be supported by the GOR.


4. (U) Comment: GOR officials continue their orchestrated
and acerbic response to the Spanish indictments after a
relatively dismissive initial reaction. The GOR will
continue seeking international support in what may be a
precursor to pursuing action in the UN. End comment.





ARIETTI