[Since 1994, the world witnesses the horrifying reality : the Tutsi minority (14%) ethnic domination, the Tutsi minority ethnic rule, tyranny and corruption in Rwanda. The current government has been characterized by the total impunity of RPF criminals, the Tutsi economic monopoly, the Tutsi militaristic domination with an iron fist, and the brutal suppression of the rights of the majority of the Rwandan people (85% are Hutus), mass-arrests and mass-murder by the RPF criminal organization.


So long as justice and accountability for RPF past and current crimes are ignored and delayed, Peace and Stability will remain illusive and impossible in Rwanda=>AS International]

• Rwanda : Dans le plus grand secret. Détention illégale et torture aux mains du Service de renseignement militaire

1. INTRODUCTION

“Nine months at Kami, It is shameful for a state of law.”

Civilian detained at Camp Kami without charge for nine months and alleged to have been tortured. March 2012, Kigali, Rwanda.

“[Eight] months went by without knowing if my husband existed or not.” Wife of man unlawfully detained and alleged to have been tortured by the military at Camp Kami. March 2012, Kigali, Rwanda.

SUMMARY

Progress over the last decade by the government of Rwanda in improving conditions of detention in prisons falling under the authority of the Rwanda Correctional Service (RCS) is being undermined by the parallel detention system run by the military. Scores of people are held in detention in military camps and the safeguards which protect detainees in police stations and other official places of detention are circumvented. Hidden from view, detainees have been unlawfully detained as well as reportedly tortured and otherwise ill-treated.


Akandoya: Kagame's Trade Mark

This report details unlawful detention, torture and other forms of ill-treatment and enforced disappearances, mostly of civilians, at the hands of Rwanda’s military intelligence, known as J2. It is based on information gathered during more than two years of research, including seven visits to Rwanda. The report documents more than 45 cases of unlawful detention and 18 allegations of torture or other ill-treatment by Rwandan military intelligence in 2010 and 2011. Some individuals who were disappeared remain in secret detention in 2012.
Amnesty International believes that the actual number of people who were detained and who were at risk of, or subjected to, torture and other ill-treatment during this period is higher than those documented here.

Amnesty International began to receive reports of enforced disappearances, torture and other ill-treatment by Rwandan military intelligence in March 2010.

This spate of human rights violations happened as military intelligence launched investigations into threats to national security in the run-up to the August 2010 presidential elections. Grenade attacks, rare in recent years, multiplied after February 2010. Some security analysts attributed them to the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), an armed opposition group based in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).1 Growing tensions within the Rwandan Defence Force (RDF) following the departure of the former army chief, General Kayumba Nyamwasa, in February 2010 also allegedly raised the spectre of potential security threats from within the army.
As part of the Rwandan authorities’ investigations into security matters, individuals were arrested, often arbitrarily, by the military, sometimes acting in collaboration with the police.

Those arrested were almost exclusively men aged between 20 and 45. Most of the cases documented here are of civilians, including demobilized military. Other cases include members of the Rwandan army or individuals suspected by the Rwandan authorities of belonging to the FDLR.



METHODOLOGY

This report is based on seven research visits to Rwanda in September 2010, February, July and November 2011, and February, March and June 2012, as well as a trial observation between September 2011 and June 2012. Amnesty International also interviewed individuals previously illegally detained in Rwanda and their family members outside Rwanda at various times between 2011 and 2012. The report does not take into account developments after the end of June 2012.

Amnesty International conducted more than 70 face-to-face interviews for this report, including eight interviews with torture victims previously detained by the military. The organization also interviewed family members of individuals disappeared, unlawfully detained or tortured, as well as lawyers, members of civil society, and individuals who had observed court proceedings. Interviews were conducted in English or French, or from Kinyarwanda with the assistance of interpreters.

Through these interviews, Amnesty International documented more than 45 cases of unlawful detention for periods ranging from 10 days to nine months, primarily of civilians in military camps and other secret detention locations during 2010 and 2011. Two cases of enforced disappearances of more than two years were also documented. Amnesty International was able to cross-check the identities of these former detainees through various sources, including other detainees, lawyers, court documents and news reports. Amnesty International received single source information on tens of other former detainees but because of the lack of corroboration has not included them in this report.
This report documents 18 allegations of torture or other ill-treatment by Rwandan military intelligence and other security personnel. Restrictions on prison access made it impossible to ascertain the extent of torture and other ill-treatment of individuals previously detained by the military and later transferred to civilian prisons. For these reasons, Amnesty International believes that the number of people detained by the military at risk of torture, or who may have been subjected to torture or other ill-treatment, is higher than the number of cases documented.

Amnesty International gathered documentation related to criminal cases in military and civilian courts, including statements of arrest and court decisions and orders. The report also draws on Amnesty International’s observation of the trial from September 2011 to June 2012 of those accused along with opposition leader Victoire Ingabire. They had been unlawfully detained at Camp Kami.

Amnesty International was unable to interview individuals currently detained in Rwanda. Since July 2011, Amnesty International has twice formally requested authorization to interview detainees and prisoners in private. Most recently, the organization requested permission to visit prisons in advance of arriving in the country. They requested private interviews with detainees in Kigali Central Prison, Ruhengeri Prison and Rubavu (commonly known as Gisenyi) Prison in March 2012. The organization’s representatives were informed one working day before leaving Rwanda by the Ministry of Internal Security that they had the
right to request authorization. However, they were told that under Rwandan law they could only interview detainees and prisoners in the presence of a prison guard. Amnesty International subsequently received a letter from the RCS authorizing the delegates to visit prisons on 4 April 2012, six days after leaving Rwanda.

The initial impetus for the report was a number of specific requests from family members for Amnesty International’s help in finding their disappeared relatives. In researching these cases, details emerged of other men who had been subjected to enforced disappearance or who had been previously detained by the military. This report sheds light on the circumstances and conditions of their detention which remain shrouded in secrecy.
Many other individuals who had been detained by the military declined to speak to Amnesty International delegates for fear of retribution. Former detainees and their family members who shared their stories expressed fear of reprisals. To protect their identities, Amnesty International has excluded their names, other identifying details, and some interview dates and locations.

Amnesty International does not take a position on the guilt or innocence of those arrested. Our concern is that they were subjected to a pattern of human rights violations: arrests in violation of the law, detention in secret locations, unlawful detention, often for several months, and a lack of access to lawyers, family members or doctors. This string of abuses violates the rights of the detained persons and renders them more vulnerable to torture and ill-treatment.


It was against this backdrop that Rwanda’s military intelligence rounded up scores of young men accused of threatening national security. For their families, unable to confirm their whereabouts, or whether they were alive, they had simply disappeared. The torture and other ill-treatment that some of these men reportedly experienced during their unlawful detention is documented in this report.



INTERNATIONAL LAW

The unspeakable RPF weapon for TORTURE In Rwandan prisons

( d ) The authority responsible for supervising the deprivation of liberty;
( e ) The place of deprivation of liberty, the date and time of admission to the place of deprivation of liberty and the authority responsible for the place of deprivation of liberty;
( f ) Elements relating to the state of health of the person deprived of liberty;

destination of the remains;

Since early 2010, the role of the military and the police in arresting individuals suspected of  threatening national security became increasingly blurred. In February 2010, Rwandan authorities created a Joint Operational Centre to facilitate information sharing between the RDF, RNP, National Intelligence and Security Service and the RCS.29 The following month, March 2010, Amnesty International began to receive reports of enforced disappearances, torture and other forms of ill-treatment in military detention facilities. These joint operations may reduce oversight and confuse reporting lines, rendering accountability for abuses less likely.

RPF symbol of terror



4. SECRET AND INCOMMUNICADO DETENTION



All former detainees told Amnesty International that they were held incommunicado in military custody for long periods of time – in many cases for more than two months and, in some cases, up to eight or nine months – before being presented to a prosecutor or court or being transferred to a civilian prison. During military custody, they were unable to contact a lawyer or relatives and their cases were not subject to judicial review. Such incommunicado detention, which includes no access to lawyers, doctors, and relatives

TORTURE AND OTHER ILL-TREATMENT
SERIOUS BEATINGS DURING INTERROGATIONS

All individuals formerly detained in military facilities and their family members interviewed by Amnesty ernational reported that they were severely beaten by military officers during interrogations. One former detainee of Camp Kami said, “The interrogation, it is beating” and described his time at Camp Kami as a “living death”.

Some family members and lawyers reported seeing marks from beatings on their relatives or clients. One family member described the first time they saw their relative after a month’s unlawful detention at Camp Kami, “His face, hands and legs were all swollen. We couldn’t easily recognize him”. 40 The individual concerned had not been charged by the prosecution or brought before a court during his time at Camp Kami.41 The vast majority, however, said that no visible signs were left due to the months that had elapsed since the beatings took place, shortly after their arrest and in the immediate months that followed.

ELECTRIC SHOCKS

Three former detainees from Camp Kami recounted to Amnesty International that they were subjected to electric shocks during interrogations. Two of these detainees described that this happened to them on one occasion each. Both of them reported that military intelligence had used these devices during interrogations at MINADEF shortly after their arrest and prior to their transfer to Camp Kami. Both interrogations took place at night. The other man had been electrocuted after his transfer to Camp Kami.
   Read more on http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/AFR47/004/2012/en/ca2e51a2-1c3f-4bb4-b7b9-e44ccbb2b8de/afr470042012en.pdf



The Truth can be buried and stomped into the ground where none can see, yet eventually it will, like a seed, break through the surface once again far more potent than ever, and Nothing can stop it. Truth can be suppressed for a "time", yet It cannot be destroyed. ==> Wolverine

Posted by Vincent Harris
Colored Opinions








Steamboat Springs Colorado is a small town of approximately 12000 inhabitants and an international reknown skiresort in the Rocky Mountains. The history of the Episcopalian church in Steamboat Springs dates back to the end of the nineteenth century:


Bishop John Rucyahana The Rwandese Joseph Goebbels Kagame's closest associate and most devout RPF follower


'As far back as 1889 a bishop would arrive either on horseback or by wagon to hold episcopalian church services.'


October 14th John Rucyahana,a bishop from Rwanda, is scheduled to arrive in Steamboat Springs for a 'talk'. John Rucyahana is one of the ideological pillars of Rwanda's ruling RPF and is president of the National Unity and Reconciliation Commission of Rwanda. To achieve unity and reconciliation John Rucyahana, as one of the leaders, has set up 84 Ingando indoctrination camps in Rwanda's 30 districts. 40.000 highschool students are forced to:
'memorize the RPF's narrative and are also taught how to shoot guns. In the history lessons delivered by military instructors, everything that went wrong in Rwanda is blamed on the colonialists and members of the past Hutu regime. There is no mention of RPF's crimes both in Rwanda and the DRC'.

Bishop John Rucyahana was recently mentioned as one of the main organisers of the rebel insurgency M23 in Congo:
'Another similar M23 meeting with Rwandan authorities took place on 26 May 2012 in Ruhengeri, Rwanda, at Hotel Ishema. According to intelligence sources and to politicians with close ties to Kigali, the RDF organized the meeting for CNDP politicians, which was chaired by Bishops John Rucyahana and Coline, both senior RPF party leaders. The aim of the meeting was to convey the message that the Rwandan Government supports M23 politically and militarily. All Rwandophone politicians and officers were instructed to join M23, or otherwise leave the Kivus. In particular, CNDP politicians have been asked to resign from the North Kivu Governorate and to withdraw from the Presidential Majority.”

After this UN report came out Bishop John Rucyahana published an article 'I saw a vision' in Rwanda's New Times (propaganda newspaper of ruling RPF) and claimed:

'Africa’s leaders should wake up and shake off the colonial imposition bequeathed on her by the Western world and learn to work and fight for African dignity and restoration.

The African Union should endeavor to correct all mistakes done on Africa with all the energy within its power and ability. Those damages which are thought to be beyond repair can be redeemed productively. For example, the problem of Congo is uncalled for, and D.R. Congo alone has the duty to put an end to the strife. If the Congolese do not recognise the people in Eastern Congo as their fellow Congolese, the African Union should give them the option for a referendum to choose where they should belong.Finally, the African Union should redeem its dignity and shape Africa’s destiny and stop being manipulated and exploited by her former colonial exploiters. In conclusion, Africa should condemn very strongly and reject the European effort to re-colonize Africa by use of International Courts and other means being used to threaten the Sovereignty of African leadership.'

The article has since been removed from the New Times website to hide this man's words to his Anglican friends in the US and the UK. It's clear from these words that bishop John Rucyahana is aiming to breakup the Congo
Paul Kagame, instead of condemning the M23 insurgency as requested by the international community, made a similar case for the support of the ongoing operation of murder and rape in Kivu.

Episcopaleans in Steamboat Springs should film their meeting with John Rucyahana and ask him to strongly condemn the M23 insurgency. To condemn the forced recruitment campaign by the RPF inside Rwanda and the execution of deserters. To condemn on camera RPF crimes of the mapping report, the assassination of political opponents. The episcopal church in Steamboat Springs has the unique opportunity to take this guy by surprise and make him reveal his real revolutionary goals. It's time to unmaks this imposter.


The Truth can be buried and stomped into the ground where none can see, yet eventually it will, like a seed, break through the surface once again far more potent than ever, and Nothing can stop it. Truth can be suppressed for a "time", yet It cannot be destroyed. ==> Wolverine

• Rwanda is no longer under the Rwanda-Burundi- Congo- Belge…Zero! => Provocation by the hyenas usually ends up in bad results for the hyenas, Kagame should not be exception.

"You will keep hearing from me on this," said the President amidst applause, adding: "That's why you hired me.

"I want to beg you so that even after me, you should have somebody who continues on the same path," said Kagame.. Wrong:  Talking to the RPF parliament : He said "If you want me to step down, I will. Which is ridiculous ! A dog asking the owner to step down, never heard this. At any time, the reverse is true !

 
So long as justice and accountability for RPF past and current crimes are ignored and delayed, Peace and Stability will remain illusive and impossible in Rwanda=>AS International]


President Clinton is undoubtedly an exceptionally contemptible human-being.” What a shame to all of us !! We learnt about his controversial aid in the construction of Butaro Cancer centre after hte mass-slaughter of the Butaro inhabitants by Kagame and RPF, the Tutsi rebels 100% enjoying ammunition provided by President Clinton. He probably forgot the February 8th, 1993 historical event in Ruhengeri. What a shame ! Such a visit and Kagame visits to the United States ARE TO CHEAPEN both the RWANDAN GENOCIDE  itself and the appalling experiences OF HUTU VICTIMS AND SURVIVORS.

The Rwandan hyena is watching carefully, before singling out h victims target - One hour before the mass-slaughter of hutu refugees

Leave me alone : I can't believe It: A brief history of Dictators
To have such a dictatorship still existing in the 21st century on our doorstep is shameful. Kagame's treatment of those who oppose him, many of which are young campaigners such as Ms Ingabire Victoire, is disgraceful. We call upon all the world community to say No to the mastermind of the Rwandan and Congolese genocides. It's time to punish the last world worse dictator and still President of Rwanda. Shame on all of us.

Death threat symbol, designed to threaten, intimidate and spread up fear, dread, terror and paninc

Death and RPF symbol, designed to threaten, intimidate and spread up great fear, dread, terror and paninc

Why would a global campaign to track a criminal with apparently ill equipped 300 followers be staged while the same countries which are after the former having been providing billions of £, $ and Euros and persist in backing another criminal leader of a country whose responsibility in worse atrocities has been irrevocably proven?

 

• Letter to World Bank Vice President for Africa On Rwanda
• Official UN mapping report
• BBC kinyarwanda on Human Rights Watch Report on M23 crimes
• Kagame and RPF major crimes well documented

(Goma) – M23 rebels in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo are responsible for widespread war crimes, including summary executions, rapes, and forced recruitment. Thirty-three of those executed were young men and boys who tried to escape the rebels’ ranks.

• Nyetera's testimony (1)
• Nyetera's testimony (II)
• Nyetera's testimony (II)
  
  

  
  

Prince Antoine-Théophile NYETERA 1936-2012



He was our friend in the successful fight for Rwanda's Freedom, peace and Justice from Kagame and RPF dictatorship.


His courage, devotion and loyalty to the Rwandan people and nation is an inspiration to all of us who Love Freedom, Justice and Peace for all Rwandans, AbaHutu, AbaTutsi and AbaTwa including all those who have chosen to bear the Rwanda nationality or live in Rwanda, out fatherland

Mr Nyetera Antoine, whom I had the great pleasure of meeting during our memorable events, demonstrations, conferences around the world was a man of universal vision whose pragmatic political wisdom served admirably to realize so many of Rwandan NGOs and political parties’goals. I request Your Excellency to accept, and to convey to the family of the late Premier the expressions of my condolences. on the passing away of this great personality.

On behalf of the African Survivors Community and myself, please accept, our heartfelt condolences, profound sympathy and deep feelings of sorrow towards the passing away of this great personality.

Mr. Nyetera was an outstanding political figure, who served the world and his country in particular, Rwanda, with distinction. He will be remembered for his passion for the causes, which he espoused, not least of which was his fight for the Truth, Freedom and Justice in Rwanda, urging them to participate fully in the process of TRUE reconciliation of all Rwandans with respect of Rwandans human rights and dignity.

Regarded as a political, social and cultural icon in the life of Rwanda, he was a charismatic, eloquent and a consummate master of communication. As we mourn his loss, we cannot but recognize the indelible impression he has left on the Truth about the Truth about the Rwandan Genocide mastermind and the reality on ethnic groups of Rwanda.



Mr. Nyetera also pursued with unwavering commitment the full reconciliation of the major ethnic groups namely Hutu and Tutsi of the African Great Lakes Region. As a consequence, his vision for and support of the reconciliation process was never in question. He was tireless in his efforts for the improvement of the reconciliation of Hutus and Tutsis as his fellow citizens. He was, for example, one of the rare personalities who dared to question about Kagame’s scenario about the 1994 tragic events.
In paying homage to this great son of Rwanda, it is fitting to acknowledge that his distinguished service to his country and to the African Great Lakes Region will always be a great source of inspiration in our efforts in fulfilling Rwandans’aspirations for a stronger and more viable nation definitely liberated from RPF dictatorship and Kagame’s tyranny.

As International is an international nonpartisan charity organization devoted to defending human rights. It’s an organization working to promote democracy and national reconciliation, inside countries of the African Great lakes Region.


As International centers its work on the twin concepts of freedom of self-determination and freedom from tyranny. These ideals include the belief that all human beings have the rights to speak freely, to associate with those of like mind, and to leave and enter their countries. Individuals in a free society must be accorded equal treatment and due process under law, and must have the opportunity to participate in the governments of their countries;

As International’s ideals likewise find expression in the conviction that all human beings have the right to be free from arbitrary detainment or exile and from interference and coercion in matters of conscience. ASI does not support nor condone violence.

The Truth can be buried and stomped into the ground where none can see, yet eventually it will, like a seed, break through the surface once again far more potent than ever, and Nothing can stop it. Truth can be suppressed for a "time", yet It cannot be destroyed. ==> Wolverine



Christopher Black Barrister at the Hague Counsel to the complainants

 

Alexander B. Mezyaev


The second report is that of Michael Hourigan, the Australian lawyer and Lead Investigator for Louise Arbour when she was Prosecutor. She tasked him with the mission of determining who had assassinated the Hutu presidents of Rwanda and Burundi and the Rwandan Army chief of staff on April 6, 1994 when their plane was shot down over Kigali. She did so thinking those responsible were Hutu «extremists». However, Hourigan learned, and had the documentary evidence and testimony to prove it, that the Zero Network of the RPF shot down the plane on Kagame’s orders, with the help of a foreign power. When Hourigan presented this evidence to Arbour she ordered the investigation terminated and the file handed over to her. No further action has been taken on that evidence since. There is evidence that she stopped the investigation on the orders of the American government. This had three consequences; it hid the truth of who was responsible for the events in Rwanda in 1994 from the world, it made Louise Arbour an accessory to a mass murder, and at the same time, it established her value as a cooperative asset that the USA could use in the aggression against Yugoslavia in 1999 when she was told by Bill Clinton to prevent negotiations and prolong the war by charging President Milosevic with false accusations of crimes against humanity.

The third report included in the complaint is the Mapping Report of 2010 to the UN Secretary General that details the large-scale atrocities that were committed by the RPF and the Ugandans and the Congolese in Rwanda and Zaire (DRC) from 1993 to 2003. The final UN report is the Addendum report of the Special Committee of the Security Council (Group of Experts) on the situation in the Congo of June 2012.

These UN reports are supported by the evidence held by the Prosecutors at the ICTR and by the evidence presented by the defence in several of the trials as to what actually transpired in Rwanda from 1990 to 1994. This evidence is completely at odds with the accepted western version but has been studiously ignored by both the western media and academics and many so-called experts.

The UN Report giving the ICC jurisdiction over Kagame is known as the Addendum. It is a supplement to a letter to the Secretary General of the UN submitted by the Group of Experts. Once again, it appears there were efforts to suppress this report as the United States tried to prevent its release. These documents present findings that provide a reasonable basis to conclude that crimes within the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court have been and are being committed by Paul Kagame and others under his command and control and which could not escape the attention of an ICC Prosecutor who was dedicated to eliminating impunity for war crimes. The documented evidence establishes that the Rwandan authorities, led by President Paul Kagame, and including, among others, his minister of defence, General James Kaberebe, General Charles Kayonga, the Rwandan Defence Forces Chief of Staff, and his Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Defence, General Jack Nziza, committed serious international crimes in the DRC by supporting the M23 «rebel» group.
Specifically the Addendum provides reliable and documented evidence that these officers are providing direct military assistance to the M23 rebellion inside the DRC including the use of children under the age of 18 as M23 combatants (5), and forced former enemy combatants of the Democratic Forces For the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) to serve with units sent by the Rwanda Defence Forces to reinforce M23 (6). The criminal responsibility of the President Paul Kagame and his subordinates for these crimes is based on Article 28 of the Rome Statute of the ICC concerning superior responsibility.

The Mapping Report of 2010, which covers the period 1993 to 2003, provides evidence that the crimes committed by Kagame and his allies amounting to genocide against the Hutu people in Rwanda spread into the territory of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, beginning in 1996 through to 2003, where the armed forces of Rwanda, Uganda and of the DRC committed genocide against the Hutu ethnic group in the DRC. One Hutu witness at the ICTR who fled 3,000 kilometers through the Congo forest to escape this attempted extermination called it the «genocide with no name and further testified, along with other witnesses, that they observed UN and US spotter planes over them before each RPF attack». (7) During the entire period of time in which these crimes were committed Paul Kagame had command responsibility over the Rwandan armed forces. (8)
The Complainants in the action of August 17 represent various civil society groups in Rwanda and Congo and include former senior members of the RPF government in Rwanda. This action is perhaps the first of its kind by Hutus and Tutsis acting in cooperation against the Kagame regime and provides a basis for optimism that Hutus and Tutsis can come to an accord and can lead Rwanda and its people forward together. They have requested the Prosecutor to commence an investigation with a view to laying charges against Paul Kagame and any other person or persons complicit in the crimes set out in the Addendum and they have relied on the stated intention of the ICC, set out in its preamble, that no one has impunity for crimes committed within the jurisdiction of the ICC.

The Complaint also notes that there is a vast amount of evidence against Kagame in the hands of the Prosecutors of the ICTR and that, while neither this evidence nor that of the Gersony, Hourigan or Mapping reports provide the ICC with evidence of crimes within its jurisdiction, they do provide evidence that the crimes of Kagame are of a continuing and grave nature and reveal a systematic pattern and intention and add credence to the Addendum Report. The Complainants also note that this protection of Kagame and his allies from prosecution at the ICTR has had the direct consequence of giving him a sense of impunity and has encouraged him to commit more crimes. An example of the evidence in the hands of the ICTR, (the Hourigan Report being another cited above) is the testimony of defence witness Abdul Ruzibiza, a former officer of the RPF, who testified in the Military I trial that the assassination of the Rwanda and Burundi presidents in 1994 was planned and committed by the Rwandan Patriotic Front under command of current President Kagame and that he was a member of the shoot down team. (9) In September of 2010, Ruzibiza died in Norway at the age of 40 under unclear circumstances and amid rumours of threats against him by the CIA.
This is not the first death of witnesses who gave testimony or others who were intent on exposing the crimes of the RPF and Kagame. Witness GAP, a prosecution witness in the Military II trial against General Bizimungu, the Rwandan army chief of staff, and who had recanted his testimony as false and extorted by threats of the RPF regime was recalled in 2009 to the ICTR to explain his recantation. He never reached the courtroom. He arrived in Arusha and was placed in a UN safe house to await his testimony. The day before he was due to testify he disappeared from the UN safe house and has not been seen by anyone since. Protests and a demand for an investigation by defence counsel about how he could disappear from a UN guarded safe house were ignored.

Seth Sendashonga, the former RPF Minister of Interior, was assassinated by an RPF death squad in Nairobi May 16, 1998, after he announced he was going to testify at the ICTR that the witnesses provided by the RPF to the tribunal were all forced to give false testimony by the RPF government (10). In December 2005, Juvenal Uwilingiyimana, a Hutu, and former Minister of Trade and Commerce, was found floating in a canal in Brussles, naked, with his hands cut off, after disappearing a few weeks earlier. He had been in contact with Steven Rapp and two of his investigators, who were pressuring him to give false testimony for the prosecution at the ICTR, according to a letter he had sent to the President of the ICTR prior to his disappearance. In the letter to the President of the ICTR and to Rapp, he said that Rapp’s two Canadian investigators had threatened to kill him and cut his body in pieces unless he cooperated. He refused to do so and refused to meet with them again. Shortly after that letter was sent he was murdered. Again, a demand by defence counsel for the suspension of Rapp and the two Canadian investigators pending an investigation into their possible involvement was ignored.

One of the writers (11), counsel to General Augustin Ndindiliyimana, chief of staff of the gendarmerie of Rwanda in the Military II trial, was himself threatened in July 2008 by a CIA officer working at the ICTR that if he did not watch his step he would be killed. This threat, echoing previous threats by the RPF, was reported to the President of the Tribunal but he was disbelieved. Scottish lawyer Andrew McCartan, Scotland’s foremost military lawyer, was killed in October 2003 when his car went off a cliff in Scotland just a few weeks after having told the same writer at a meeting in Toronto that he had tried to confront Bill Clinton about the US role in Rwanda and that he had learned secrets about the US involvement in Rwanda in 1994 and its control of the ICTR. Scottish police could find no cause for the car crash. In her memoirs the former Chief Prosecutor of International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, Carla del Ponte, reported that Paul Kagame torpedoed the investigation of crimes committed by RPF and that the US government also put pressure on her to leave Kagame alone and when she refused to sign a document to that effect she was soon replaced. (12) To no one’s surprise the new Prosecutor, Hassan Jallow, immediately lost interest in the RPF and Kagame. In 2010, American defence counsel, Peter Erlinder was arrested by the RPF regime the day he arrived in Rwanda to try to defend FDU-Inkingi politician Victoire Ingabire, facing political charges by the regime, because he had merely repeated publicly what the evidence was at the ICTR about RPF crimes. He was only released after extensive intervention by other defence counsel and the reluctant intervention of the US State Department.

The Rwandan and Ugandan invasions of the Democratic Republic of the Congo beginning in 1996 created a severe problem for Africa. Year by year the situation became worse. In 1999 the Democratic Republic of the Congo initiated proceedings against Rwanda in the International Court of Justice. (13) That proceeding was later discontinued because of the Congo’s expressed belief in their ability to resolve the matter by negotiation. But in 2002 Congo was forced to institute new proceedings against Rwanda. Because of technical reasons (with very questionable argumentation) (14) the ICJ found no jurisdiction in the case, so the Congolese claims stay unanswered. (15)

The attempts by the NATO powers to indict heads of state for actions committed on the territory of foreign countries, using the UN as their tool, have become more and more frequent but the leaders targeted for this treatment are those who stand in the way of western interests, never those that bend to their interests. We can cite as examples the case against Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic for the alleged planning and fuelling of the war crimes in Bosnia, that against Liberian President Charles Taylor for his alleged aiding and abetting crimes committed in Sierra Leone, and finally the case against the vice-president of the DRC J-P.Bemba for the military assistance in CAR.

Kagame is an example of an American supported leader whose crimes go unpunished because he is useful to them and because they are party to his crimes. The Prosecutors of the ICTR have wasted 17 years protecting Kagame from his responsibility for the crimes he and his forces committed in Rwanda in 1994. The consequence has been a continuation of those crimes into the Congo, drowning the Great Lakes region of Africa in blood. Since the ICTR has refused to act on its responsibilities, it is now up to the ICC to take up the burden and to commence an investigation into the crimes set out in the Addendum report and the crimes committed by Kagame and others who support him since 2003, the date on which the jurisdiction of the ICC begins. The impunity given to Kagame and his allies can only come to an end, and with it the wars in the Great Lakes region, when his crimes and those of the powers that support him are exposed and brought to justice. It is not enough to study the consequences of these wars. It is necessary to understand the reasons and the causes for these wars. The August 17 action at The Hague is an attempt to start the long delayed process of bringing Kagame and his allies to justice. Only when this is achieved can Africans begin the to create the conditions for the restoration of peace and the conditions necessary to develop Africa’s immense potential . The August 17 action should be supported.

Christopher C. Black – Barrister, Counsel to the complainants in the present case (Canada).

Alexander B. Mezyaev – Head of the Department of International Law, Law Faculty, University of Management (Russia).



(1) Christopher Black

(2) The United Forces For Democracy in Rwanda (FDU), the Rwanda National Congress (RNC), le Reseau International des Femmes pour la Democratie et la Paix (RIFDP) – from Rwanda; and L’Association Pour la Promotion de la Democratie et du Developpement de la RDC (APRODEC) and Congonova, represent significant elements of the civil society of the Democratic Republic of Congo – from the DRC.

(3)Article 15 (1) of the ICC Statute states that «The Prosecutor may initiate investigations proprio motu on the basis of information on crimes within the jurisdiction of the Court». And article 53 of the ICC Statute requires the Prosecutor to «initiate an investigation unless he or she determines there is no reasonable basis to proceed…».

(4) The report of Robert Gersony to the UNHCR of October 1994 and the report of ICTR Lead investigator for Louise Arbour of 1997 to the UN OIOS (Office of Internal Oversight)

(5) See Addendum (para 19). This action constitutes a war crime under Article 8(b)(xxvi) and 8(e)(vii) of the ICC Statute.

(6) See Addendum (paras 20-21). This action constitutes a war crime under Article 8(2)(a)(v) of the ICC Statute (that forbids compelling a prisoner of war or other protected person to serve in the forces of a hostile power).

(7) Transcripts, Military II Trial, ICTR.

(8) DRC Final Report (the Mapping Report) of June 2010 (made to the Secretary-General of the United Nations by United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights N.Pillay,). Paras 20-33.

(9) Prosecutor v. Bagosora et al., transcript of 9 March 2006. See also the book of this witness «Rwanda. L’Histoire Secret». Paris. 2005.

(10) Prunier, Gerard (2009) Africa’s World War: Congo, the Rwanda Genocide, and the Making of a Continental Catastrophe, Oxford

(11) Christopher Black

(12) C. Del Ponte, The Hunt. Me and the War Criminals. 2008, Oxford, Oxford University Press pp 366-367.

(13) Application instituting proceedings see on the official website of the International Court of Justice on the Internet: http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/files/117/7071.pdf. The Livre blanc prepared of the Government of the DRC is available: http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/files/117/13461.pdf.

(14) Two judges expressed their dissenting opinions and eight judges – separate opinions to the judgment.

(15) Armed Activities on the Territory of the Congo (New Application : 2002) (Democratic Republic of the Congo v. Rwanda). ICJ Judgment of 3 February 2006.



As International is an international nonpartisan charity organization devoted to defending human rights. It’s an organization working to promote democracy and national reconciliation, inside countries of the African Great lakes Region.


As International centers its work on the twin concepts of freedom of self-determination and freedom from tyranny. These ideals include the belief that all human beings have the rights to speak freely, to associate with those of like mind, and to leave and enter their countries. Individuals in a free society must be accorded equal treatment and due process under law, and must have the opportunity to participate in the governments of their countries;

As International’s ideals likewise find expression in the conviction that all human beings have the right to be free from arbitrary detainment or exile and from interference and coercion in matters of conscience. ASI does not support nor condone violence.

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