Rwanda : Amnesty International

 Covering events from January - December 2003
                 
"Disappearances", arbitrary arrests, unlawful detentions and
                  the ill-treatment of detainees were reported. Eighteen
                  prisoners were sentenced to death for crimes committed during
                  the 1994 genocide; no executions were carried out.
                  Approximately 80,000 individuals remained in detention, nearly
                  all of them suspected of participation in the genocide. Most
                  were held for prolonged periods without charge or trial, in
                  harsh and overcrowded conditions. Trials of genocide suspects
                  continued at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda
                  (ICTR) in Arusha, Tanzania. Grave human rights violations
                  committed in previous years by state security agents remained
                  without thorough or independent investigation. Several people
                  were detained for peaceful opposition activities.

                  Background

                  The governments of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)
                  and Rwanda accused each other of not honouring the July 2002
                  bilateral agreement, in which the Rwandese government pledged
                  to withdraw its troops from eastern DRC and the DRC government
                  undertook to disarm and repatriate Rwandese opposition groups.
                  Reports of continued Rwandese involvement in eastern DRC after
                  its forces had officially withdrawn were denied by the
                  government. The Rwandese and Ugandan governments made
                  accusations that the other was harbouring, sponsoring and
                  training armed opposition movements.

                  The end of the government's transition program following the
                  genocide was marked by the adoption of a new Constitution, the
                  fifth since independence in 1960. The draft Constitution
                  contained provisions that could restrict fundamental civil and
                  political rights.

                  Information provided by the government-controlled media on key
                  provisions of the draft Constitution was limited. In May the
                  new Constitution was overwhelmingly endorsed in a referendum.

                  The presidential election was held on 25 August and
                  parliamentary elections between 29 September and 2 October.
                  Incumbent Paul Kagame won the presidential election with 95
                  per cent of the vote, while his Rwandese Patriotic Front (RPF)
                  party won 74 per cent in parliamentary elections. Opposition
                  candidates and supporters faced severe intimidation during and
                  after the electoral campaigns. There were consistent reports
                  of voter intimidation before and on polling day by supporters
                  of the governing party.

                  The high proportion of women elected to parliament resulted in
                  part from government legislation and administrative practices
                  aimed at advancing the position and status of women.

                  'Disappearances'

                  A number of "disappearances" were reported, many linked to
                  government actions against the Mouvement Démocratique
                  Républicain (MDR), Democratic Republican Movement. Others who
                  "disappeared" were reportedly victims of criminal activities
                  by members of the Rwandese security forces.


                    Several people reportedly "disappeared" in April, apparently
                    because they were suspected of opposition to the government.
                    They included Dr Leonard Hitimana, an MDR deputy,
                    Lieutenant-Colonel Augustin Cyiza, former President of the
                    Court of Cassation and Vice-President of the Supreme Court,
                    and Eliezer Runyaruka, a university student and cantonal
                    judge in Nyamata. According to witnesses, the vehicles in
                    which the "disappeared" were last seen or which belonged to
                    them were last sighted in a military detention facility or
                    driven and subsequently abandoned by members of the security
                    forces.


                    Charles Muyenzi and Aimable Nkurunziza, former armed forces
                    officers, were forcibly returned from Burundi. They were
                    reportedly handed over to the Rwandese security forces on 9
                    November, and subsequent efforts to locate them met with no
                    response from the authorities. Aimable Nkurunziza had
                    previously received refugee status in Uganda.

                  Suppression of the opposition

                  Opposition party members and leaders were intimidated by
                  repeated interrogations at police stations, unlawful
                  detentions and death threats. A number fled the country.
                  Opposition party organizers were allegedly threatened and
                  bribed to defect to the RPF or to make false accusations
                  against their party's candidate. Many voters were forced or
                  pressured to join the RPF and attend RPF political rallies.
                  Civil society organizations were denounced as "divisionist" or
                  "sectarian". In April a parliamentary commission accused the
                  membership of the MDR and 46 named individuals of fomenting
                  "division". The leading independent human rights organization
                  was accused of financially supporting the MDR.

                  Abuses in the criminal justice system

                  Public confidence in the criminal justice system continued to
                  erode. The police frequently detained suspects unlawfully for
                  long periods without trial. Court decisions were not always
                  respected by Public Prosecutors' Offices, and defendants
                  acquitted by the courts sometimes remained in prison. One
                  third of all arrests and preventive detentions were estimated
                  to be in violation of the Code of Criminal Procedure. Many
                  officials in the criminal justice system did not have the
                  necessary legal training or experience. Draft laws before
                  parliament proposed restructuring the judicial system and
                  simplifying civil and criminal justice procedures to address
                  some of these issues.

                  Genocide trials

                  More than 450 genocide suspects were tried, significantly
                  fewer than in 2002. By the end of 2003 the Specialized
                  Chambers had tried slightly more than 8,000 suspects since
                  they became operational in 1996. In many cases, trials did not
                  meet international standards of fairness. Eighteen defendants
                  were sentenced to death. The sentences were not carried out.

                  The government, in an attempt to address serious prison
                  overcrowding, provisionally released more than 20,000
                  detainees. Most had confessed to participation in the
                  genocide. However, among those who did not benefit from the
                  provisional release were detainees whose case files contained
                  insufficient evidence to warrant their detention.

                  Gacaca
                  The long awaited start of gacaca trials, a communitybased
                  system of justice, did not begin as planned. Community members
                  and elected local magistrates continued pre-trial work in the
                  746 tribunals, which started operating in 2002. They listed
                  victims and suspected perpetrators, and made an inventory of
                  civil damages claims. The remaining 8,258 tribunals were
                  planned to be operational in 2004.

                  The tribunals were plagued by inaction by magistrates and
                  community members, the unwillingness of communities to provide
                  information and public dissatisfaction that human rights
                  abuses by members of the former armed opposition group, the
                  RPF, were excluded from their consideration. After the fall of
                  the government in 1994 the RPF's political wing became the
                  ruling party and its armed wing became the armed forces, known
                  as the Rwandese Patriotic Army (RPA) until renamed the
                  Rwandese Defence Forces (RDF) in June 2002.

                  International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda

                  Trials of leading genocide suspects continued at the ICTR,
                  which held 56 detainees at the end of 2003. Five trials
                  involving 20 defendants continued, three of which began in
                  2003. The trials of seven former government ministers began in
                  November. Judgments were given in five trials involving eight
                  suspects. By the end of the year, the ICTR had delivered 17
                  judgments since its first indictments in 1995.

                  Two suspects were arrested in the DRC and Uganda, and
                  transferred to the ICTR for trial. Another 16 individuals were
                  indicted by the ICTR but not apprehended. The US Congress
                  renewed its Rewards for Justice Program to assist in the
                  capture of those indicted.

                  The ICTR had accused the Rwandese government of frustrating
                  investigations of war crimes allegations against former RPA
                  members. In August, human rights groups pressed the UN
                  Security Council to ensure the independence and impartiality
                  of the Court, despite pressure by Rwanda and other states not
                  to prosecute RPA members for crimes against humanity that had
                  led the court to suspend investigations against former RPA
                  members in September 2002.

                  International justice
                  Other states continued to bring to trial or deport genocide
                  suspects under their national jurisdiction. Despite the
                  Belgian parliament's repeal of its legislation conferring
                  universal jurisdiction on Belgian courts, a number of genocide
                  cases that had already begun were pending before the courts.


                    In September the Canadian Federal Court of Appeal ruled in
                    the case of Léon Mugesera, accused in Canada of crimes
                    against humanity for making a speech inciting violence and
                    ethnic hatred in Rwanda in 1992. The Court found that the
                    speech did not constitute an explicit incitement to genocide
                    or a crime against humanity, and that he could remain in
                    Canada.

                  Freedom of expression

                  Members of the press and civil society continued to face
                  intimidation and harassment for criticizing the government or
                  armed forces. A number of journalists and human rights
                  activists were interrogated by the police, detained and driven
                  into exile. Others had to exercise self-censorship in relation
                  to certain subjects to avoid politically motivated repression
                  by the security forces.


                    Police arrested five journalists and the driver of the
                    privately owned newspaper Umuseso on 19 November, and
                    confiscated one edition of the paper. The journalists were
                    interrogated and two of them reportedly beaten, allegedly
                    because of an article that questioned the demobilization of
                    certain senior military officers. They were released without
                    charge after two days.

                  Refugees

                  The government continued to express its intention for all
                  Rwandese refugees – estimated at 85,000 – to return to Rwanda.
                  Tripartite agreements were signed between Rwanda, the UN High
                  Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and host countries: the
                  Republic of the Congo, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Uganda,
                  Zambia and Zimbabwe. Many returning refugees expressed concern
                  about their security and the economic situation in Rwanda. In
                  Uganda, only 200 out of 14,000 Rwandese refugees registered
                  for voluntary repatriation, despite attempts by the Rwandese
                  government and UNHCR to persuade them that it was safe to
                  return.

                  AI country visits

                  AI delegates visited Rwanda in January, March, July and
                  August. In October AI's Secretary General travelled to the
                  DRC, Rwanda and Uganda to meet senior government and UN
                  officials, survivors of human rights abuses, Congolese human
                  rights activists and international humanitarian agencies.