Arrest of Kizito Mihigo Is Another Deplorable Action to Oppress Reconciliation Acts
The Global Campaign for Rwandans' Human Rights condemns the arrest of Kizito Mihigo, Jean Paul Dukuzumuremyi and Cassien Ntamuhanga.
According to the Rwandan Police, they were arrested respectively on 11th, 13th and 14th April 2014.
Kizito Mihigo is a renowned young peace and reconciliation activist as well as a musician. His work through his charity, the Kizito Mihigo Peace Foundation, has transformed the lives of people in Rwanda, particularly prisoners and victims of the genocide.
Kizito also became popular as a result of composing songs that carry messages of peace, love and reconciliation. Kizito's songs and work under his foundation have been powerfully driven by his strong Christian values and beliefs.
Kizito recently composed and released a song in Kinyarwanda called "Igisobanuro cy'urupfu", meaning "the meaning of death" in English. In this song he calls for remembering those who were killed during the genocide in Rwanda and others who were killed in circumstances other than the genocide.
The video of that song became popular and got more than 30,000 viewers in 4 days. No other Rwandan music video has gained such popularity in such a short time. His song was afterwards criticised by a genocide survivors' advocacy group that is linked to the government. The group accused Kizito of promoting a "double genocide theory" and, by mentioning other killings, of offending genocide survivors during the genocide memorial period.
Kizito was forced to take that song offline and issue an apology to genocide survivors who might have been offended by his song. Kizito also promised to release a new song about the commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide.
The harassment that Kizito experienced is deplorable, but it is not surprising considering that it is still a taboo in Rwanda to mention or officially remember people who were killed in Rwanda in non-genocidal assassination acts, meaning those killed by the current government's army. By remembering those deaths and calling for respect for all deaths, Kizito committed an act of bravery considering the current government's stance on commemorating those who were killed.
Nevertheless, one of Kizito's fans who had saved the video of his removed popular song re-uploaded it online on 6th April 2014. The new video also immediately broke the records of the previous one in relation to the number of viewers in a short period.
Prior to the police announcement of the arrest of Kizito Mihigo and Cassien Ntamuhanga, we were investigating their whereabouts, as they had been missing since 7th April 2014 according to their families and close friends.
Despite the police repeatedly denying knowledge of their whereabouts, we believe that they were illegally arrested and taken to unknown places of detention for interrogation and released briefly, so that they could be re-arrested and charged officially.
Considering the declarations that the accused made on 15th April 2014 when they were paraded before the media without any legal representative, and considering that they had been missing for days before their official arrest date, we have reasons to believe that Kizito Mihigo and his co-accused, through physical or psychological torture, were coerced to accept all the terrorist-related activities they were alleged to have committed.
We call on the Rwandan government to immediately and unconditionally release Kizito and his co-accused.
We call on the Rwandan government to support and learn from the reconciliation efforts that Kizito and his foundation have undertaken in order to build a reconciled and peaceful society.
We call on the Rwandan government to understand that the popularity of Kizito's banned song demonstrates the Rwandan people's desperation for a reconciled country in which each person's pain, fear and concerns are considered and dealt with in an equal and inclusive society.
The Global Campaign for Rwandans' Human Rights
Secretariat - London