Our Statement on the Death of Kizito Mihigo

Statement

The Global Campaign for Rwandans' Human Rights mourns the death of Kizito Mihigo, the gospel singer, genocide survivor and human rights advocate who died in the custody of the Rwandan police on 17 February 2020. He was 38 years old.

Kizito Mihigo was arrested on 14 February 2020 near the border with Burundi, as he attempted to leave the country. Three days later, the Rwanda Investigation Bureau announced that he had been found dead in his police cell in Kigali, and that he had taken his own life.

We do not believe it.

A Killing, Not a Suicide

Kizito Mihigo was no stranger to the machinery of the Rwandan state. In 2014, he was arrested, tried and sentenced to ten years in prison for conspiracy against the government after songs he wrote were interpreted as critical of the regime. He was pardoned in 2018, but the pardon was conditional, and he remained under constant surveillance. He fled Rwanda in 2018 and lived in exile in Belgium, returning only to try to leave again when he could no longer bear the pressure.

A man who survived the genocide as a child, who spent years in prison for his songs, and who fled his homeland to preserve his freedom, does not calmly end his life in the very police station from which he was days from escaping. Human Rights Watch concluded at the time that the circumstances strongly suggested he was killed in custody.

We state plainly what the evidence demands: Kizito Mihigo was killed in the hands of the Rwandan state, and his death was presented to the world as a suicide. An inquest was announced, its findings never reached the public, and no police officer was ever held to account.

Our Demands

The Global Campaign for Rwandans' Human Rights demands:

• A full, independent and international investigation into the death of Kizito Mihigo, including the circumstances of his arrest, the conditions of his detention, and the three days between the two.
• The publication of the autopsy report, the CCTV footage of the Remera police station, and the statements of every officer on duty.
• Accountability for his death, wherever the evidence leads.
• An end to the persecution, surveillance and silencing of Rwandan artists, journalists and dissidents, at home and in exile.

In Memoriam

Kizito Mihigo sang of peace, of forgiveness and of the human dignity of every Rwandan. For that, his own government imprisoned him, hounded him and, we believe, killed him.

To his family, to his friends and to all who loved his voice, we offer our deepest condolences. His death in custody has never been answered. It will not be forgotten, and we will not stop asking the questions the Rwandan authorities refuse to answer: what happened in that cell, who was present, and who gave the orders.

The Global Campaign for Rwandans' Human Rights

Secretariat