Rwandan authorities have for decades subjected detainees to ill-treatment and torture, with no accountability.
Nevertheless, a landmark trial of 6 prison officials and 12 detainees for murder, torture, and assault at Rubavu prison, concluded in April, demonstrated that it is possible to begin to break through the entrenched practice of torture in Rwanda.
Entrenched Torture
A new Human Rights Watch report, “’They threw me in the water and beat me’”, documents torture and ill-treatment by prison officials and detainees in Nyarugenge prison in the capital, Kigali; in Rubavu prison, western Rwanda; and in an unofficial detention facility in Kigali known as “Kwa Gacinya.”
Former detainees told HRW about the ordeal detainees faced, including being forced into a tank filled with dirty water, submerged, and beaten. Some said detainees were then made to run around the courtyard barefoot until they collapsed. Judges ignored complaints from current and former detainees about the unlawful detention and ill-treatment.
HRW interviewed more than 28 people between 2019 and 2024 for this report. HRW also reviewed YouTube interviews of former prisoners who described being tortured in detention and court documents relating to the trials of 53 people.
Slow Progress
Following the trial, which concluded in April, one former prison director was convicted of the 2019 assault and murder of a detainee at Rubavu prison and sentenced to 15 years in prison. Two other officials and seven prisoners, who were accused of acting under instruction, were convicted of beating and killing prisoners.
But the trial only delivered partial justice. Officials were acquitted of torture, which carries a heavier penalty. Several other senior prison officials were acquitted despite the apparently damning evidence presented against them by former detainees. The prisoners who were ordered to beat fellow detainees were given longer sentences of up to 25 years.
More Oversight
Unfortunately, Rwandan authorities routinely curtail the work of institutions monitoring prison conditions and prevent torture. In May, HRW offered to meet with Rwandan government officials to share preliminary findings of this research, but its senior researcher was denied entry upon arrival at Kigali International Airport.
The trial and convictions have exposed serious problems in Rwanda’s correctional services, as well as critical failings in the judiciary and human rights institutions. Instead of trying to block monitoring of its prisons, the government should investigate torture and implement necessary reform.
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