- President Paul Kagame of Rwanda; Source: Wikimedia Commons (Russell Watkins)
Many of the arbitrary detentions took place after a series of deadly grenade attacks in March 2010 and in the run-up of the presidential elections in August 2012. According to AI, two men are still missing since their enforced disappearance in March 2010.
Former detainees alleging torture and ill-treatment say that J2 used electric shocks, serious beatings and sensory deprivation to force them into confessions. They spent between ten days and nine months in incommunicado detention without any access to lawyers, doctors and family members.
The AI report is a further blow to Rwanda’s president Paul Kagame after international donors partly withdrew financial aid following reports that Rwanda was providing arms to rebel groups in the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo. Rwandan officials dismissed the claims of torture and invited AI to the country to prove their findings.
Despite the current allegations, Rwanda has made some promising steps in committing to ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and inviting the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture to the country.
AI: Rwanda must investigate unlawful detention and torture by military intelligence
Guardian: Rwandan civilians tortured into making false confessions, says Amnesty
Reuters: Rwandan military intelligence tortured civilians: Amnesty International
