Our Statement on the Assassination Attempt of René Mugenzi

Statement

The Global Campaign for Rwandans' Human Rights confirms with grave concern that our Chairman, René Mugenzi, has been the target of an assassination attempt planned against him in London by agents acting on behalf of the Rwandan government.

In May 2011, the Metropolitan Police delivered formal threat-to-life notices to René Mugenzi and to fellow Rwandan exile Jonathan Musonera, warning them that a hitman had been sent to the United Kingdom to kill them. The police judged the threat to be imminent and serious. René Mugenzi is a survivor of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi, a British citizen, and the founder of a London-based think-tank dedicated to social inclusion.

What This Reveals

Let the world be clear about what this means. The government of Rwanda plotted to murder a human rights defender on the streets of London, in a democratic country, thousands of kilometres from Kigali. It did not dispute his arguments. It did not answer his advocacy. It sought to end his life.

This is the true face of the regime: one that reaches across borders to silence its critics, that treats the diaspora as a hunting ground, and that considers murder an instrument of policy. The attempt on the life of our Chairman is part of a wider pattern of transnational repression: the suspicious deaths of Rwandan exiles abroad, the abduction of critics such as Paul Rusesabagina, the killings and deaths in custody of those within its reach, and the relentless surveillance and intimidation of Rwandan families in Europe and North America.

Our Demands

The Global Campaign for Rwandans' Human Rights demands:

• A full criminal investigation by the United Kingdom authorities into the plot against René Mugenzi and Jonathan Musonera, and the prosecution of all those involved, wherever the evidence leads.
• The recall and expulsion of any Rwandan diplomat implicated in planning or directing assassination attempts on foreign soil.
• The protection of Rwandan human rights defenders and exiles in the United Kingdom, Europe and around the world.
• An end to the persecution of the Rwandan diaspora by the government in Kigali.

Our Resolve

The attempt on our Chairman's life will not silence us. It confirms, in the clearest possible terms, why this campaign exists. A government that sends killers to London to murder a genocide survivor has abandoned every principle of law and decency.

We stand with René Mugenzi, with his family, and with every Rwandan who refuses to be silenced by fear. We will continue our work with greater determination than ever.

The Global Campaign for Rwandans' Human Rights

Secretariat