Rwanda’s military has often detained people unlawfully and put them through torture, forcing many people to give up hope on justice, the Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report published on Tuesday.
The 91-page report accused the military of using asphyxiations, mock executions, and electric shocks to create an environment of total impunity.
The unlawful confinements and tortures occurred between 2010 and 2016, with the HRW reporting 104 confirmed cases.
“Human Rights Watch has confirmed 104 cases of people who were illegally detained, and in many cases tortured or ill-treated, in Rwandan military detention centers between 2010 and 2016. The total number is most likely much higher, due to the secret nature of the abuses and many former detainees’ fear of reprisals. Human Rights Watch has received several credible reports of cases in 2017, indicating that these violations have continued” the report said.
Most of the victims are reported to have been detained on suspicion of being members of, or working with, the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR).
Some of the victims were accused of collaborating with the Rwanda National Congress (RNC), an opposition group in exile composed mainly of former members of Rwanda’s ruling party, or with Victoire Ingabire, president of the Forces démocratiques unifiées (FDU)-Inkingi, a banned opposition party. Ingabire is serving a 15-year prison sentence for conspiracy to undermine the government and genocide denial.
“Research over a number of years demonstrates that military officials in Rwanda can use torture whenever they please,” Central Africa director at Human Rights Watch Ida Sawyersaid during the release of the report.
The report comes barely a week after former presidential aspirant Diane Rwigara was taken to court accused of inciting insurrection and forgery.
Rwigara was barred from running in the August presidential election, with the electoral authority saying she had not submitted enough signatures to be allowed to contest. She was arrested alongside her sister and mother, who were charged separately with “discrimination and sectarianism.”
