Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08KIGALI475
2008-07-11 11:32:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Kigali
Cable title:  

MILITARY PROSECUTOR ON CASE AGAINST FOUR SOLDIERS

Tags:  PREL PGOV PHUM RW 
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DE RUEHLGB #0475 1931132
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P 111132Z JUL 08 ZDK
FM AMEMBASSY KIGALI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5443
INFO RUEHBS/AMEMBASSY BRUSSELS 0256
RUEHJB/AMEMBASSY BUJUMBURA 0348
RUEHDR/AMEMBASSY DAR ES SALAAM 1163
RUEHKM/AMEMBASSY KAMPALA 1932
RUEHKI/AMEMBASSY KINSHASA 0483
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 0263
RUEHNR/AMEMBASSY NAIROBI 1260
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 0524
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0132
C O N F I D E N T I A L KIGALI 000475 

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/11/2018
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM RW
SUBJECT: MILITARY PROSECUTOR ON CASE AGAINST FOUR SOLDIERS

REF: KIGALI 0415

Classified By: Ambassador Michael Arietti for Reason 1.4 (b) (d)

C O N F I D E N T I A L KIGALI 000475

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/11/2018
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM RW
SUBJECT: MILITARY PROSECUTOR ON CASE AGAINST FOUR SOLDIERS

REF: KIGALI 0415

Classified By: Ambassador Michael Arietti for Reason 1.4 (b) (d)


1. (C) Summary. Investigation proceeds against the four
soldiers arrested for the killing of Catholic clergymen in
1994 -- two have confessed their role in the killings, two
maintain their innocence. No other cases of revenge
killings appear to be under consideration by the military
prosecutor. While senior Rwandan clergymen implicated in the
genocide lost their lives in the attack, so did ordinary
Rwandans with no role at all in the mass killings -- an
object lesson in why military forces should never take the
law into their own hands. End summary.


2. (C) Pol/econ chief met July 7 with Captain Kayijuka
Ngabo, acting head of the military prosecution service, to
discuss the case against four Rwandan soldiers arrested
mid-June for the killing of Catholic clergy in June 1994
(reftel). Ngabo described the investigation as "ongoing,"
and said that his efforts now centered on the two officers
who had been charged with "command responsibility" for the
murders. The two lower-ranking officers had confessed to the
shooting of the clergymen during extensive interrogations in
isolation from each other, after being confronted with both
the testimony of others present at the killings, and their
own contradictory statements. While his office would
continue to amass evidence against the two soldiers who
pulled the trigger, "as they can always try to withdraw their
guilty pleas," the investigation was now intent on "drawing
in" the two higher-ranking officers. The two lower-ranking
officers had not implicated their two superiors, he added.


3. (C) Ngabo declined to indicate just how long his office
had been investigating the case, but noted that International
Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) investigators had turned
over useful investigation materials from the ICTR's own
efforts in the case. Sketching out the murder scene, Ngabo
said the killers had been four in number, with two now
deceased (one shot and killed at the scene, one dying later
of unrelated causes). The killers shot fifteen persons,
three bishops, several priests, and a number of lay brothers.
Two Rwanda Patriotic Army officers were holding a meeting
with the bishops when the killers entered, Ngabo said, and
had dived out of the way to escape the barrage of shots from
the gunmen. According to Ngabo, the killers had been
surprised to find "so many people in the room," most of whom
they had no original intention of killing. Lacking either
the time or the presence of mind to distinguish those they
sought to kill from those they did not, the soldiers simply
killed them all, said Ngabo. The soldiers had previously
formed the intent to kill the three bishops, and "some
priests," but had no clear idea who was who when they entered
the room.


4. (C) Taking issue with statements by some senior Rwandan
officials, who have asserted that those killed that day had
all been active or complicit in the genocide, Ngabo said that
several of those killed had not been suspected of involvement
in any killings. They had simply been in the wrong place at
the wrong time. When asked if the investigation would lead
to other suspects or other arrests, Ngabo said he "did not
know." Equally, when asked if there were other cases of
alleged revenge killings that his office might bring to court
or begin to investigate, he said, "I do not know." Ngabo
said his focus was on "this case," which he expected to bring
to court by mid-August. The four soldiers had retained
civilian counsel, he noted, and he expected a vigorous
defense on behalf of the two more senior officers.


5. (C) Comment. As noted reftel, the killing of the
Catholic bishops has been the subject of negotiations between
the ICTR and the Rwandans for some time. As Ngabo seemed
unaware of (or was unwilling to discuss) any additional
prosecutions for revenge killings by Rwandan troops, his
office does not seem to have been given a free hand beyond
this particular incident. However, this case will make an
excellent object lesson on why military forces should never
take the law into their own hands -- not only did senior
Catholic clergymen implicated in the genocide lose any right
to defend themselves, but ordinary Rwandans will no role at
all in the killings suffered an ignominious and unjust end.
End comment.
ARIETTI