Arrest of Rwanda Intelligence Chief | Human Rights Watch


(London) – Human Rights Watch is monitoring the case of Emmanuel Karenzi
Karake, head of theRwandan <http://www.hrw.org/africa/rwanda>  intelligence
services, who was arrested in London on June 20, 2015, on a European arrest
warrant following a request issued by a Spanish judge.

In the event that Karenzi Karake is extradited to Spain, where a Spanish
court has indicted him and 39 other senior Rwandan officials for serious
crimes committed in violation of international law, the Spanish authorities
should ensure that due process is followed and that he receives a fair
trial.

“There has been significant progress in ensuring justice for the victims of
the genocide in Rwanda,” said Daniel Bekele, Africa director at Human Rights
Watch. “But thousands of victims and their relatives are still waiting for
justice for crimes
<https://www.hrw.org/news/2014/03/28/rwanda-justice-after-genocide-20-years>
committed by members of the Rwandan Patriotic Front since 1994.”

Karenzi Karake has been a key senior military and intelligence official in
Rwanda for the last 20 years. Victims and witnesses of human rights
violations have often cited his name in connection with serious crimes going
back to the 1990s. In the Spanish indictment he is accused, among other
things, of involvement in the 1997 murder of three Spanish aid workers.

In the years following the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, members of the Rwandan
Patriotic Army killed thousands of civilians, particularly in the context of
a counterinsurgency
<http://www.hrw.org/legacy/worldreport/Africa-10.htm#P816_217123>  operation
in the northwest of Rwanda, as well as in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Rwandan troops killed hundreds of civilians in the Congolese town of
Kisangani
<http://www.hrw.org/news/2007/12/19/unau-investigate-karakes-past-conduct>
in June 2000 when Rwandan and Ugandan troops clashed there. Karenzi Karake
was a commander of the Rwandan troops.

The investigation into Karenzi Karake and other Rwandan officials in Spain
was made possible because some of the victims are Spanish and in application
of the principle of universal jurisdiction, which allows the courts of a
country to investigate and prosecute particularly grave crimes even if they
are committed abroad and by foreigners.

Human Rights Watch has reviewed the 2008 Spanish indictment, which it
believes has some merit, and calls for the investigations into the crimes
cited therein to continue to be pursued.

 

EM

On the 49th Parallel          

                 Thé Mulindwas Communication Group
"With Yoweri Museveni, Ssabassajja and Dr. Kiiza Besigye, Uganda is in
anarchy"
                    Kuungana Mulindwa Mawasiliano Kikundi
"Pamoja na Yoweri Museveni, Ssabassajja na Dk. Kiiza Besigye, Uganda ni
katika machafuko" 

 

 

 

 

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