Our Statement on the Murder of André Kagwa Rwisereka

André Kagwa Rwisereka, the deputy chairman of Rwanda's Democratic Green Party, was found murdered, his body partially beheaded, near Butare in southern Rwanda on 14 July 2010. He was fifty-three years old, a father of six, and a founding figure of a party that had dared to prepare for elections that August. ## Killed on the eve of an election Rwisereka's death came weeks before Rwanda's 2010 presidential elections, at the exact moment the Green Party and other opposition forces were trying to register candidates against the incumbent. His colleague Frank Habineza, who had recently fled the country after being threatened, and international observers immediately raised the alarm. The police investigation into his murder, conducted by Rwanda's Bureau of Investigation, never saw the light of day. Its findings, if any exist, have never been published, and no one has ever been held accountable. The message to every emerging opposition party was unmistakable, and it worked: the August 2010 election proceeded with the incumbent scoring a declared 93 per cent, while critics died, fled or sat in prison. ## Our demands - The Government of Rwanda must publish the findings of the Bureau of Investigation's inquiry, or permit an independent international investigation into André Kagwa Rwisereka's murder.

• Opposition parties must be able to organise, campaign and stand for election without their leaders being killed, and every election held since must be judged in that light.
• The international community must refuse to normalise elections in which the opposition's leaders die with such convenient regularity. André Kagwa Rwisereka was killed for believing Rwandans deserved a choice. The Global Campaign for Rwandans' Human Rights demands justice for him and for every Rwandan silenced in the name of an unopposed regime.