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Amnesty International called on the Rwandan government on Friday for the "immediate and unconditional" release of 20 people recently detained, "seemingly for their entirely nonviolent and legitimate" connection with imprisoned ex-President Pasteur Bizimungu.
"Amnesty International believes that these people are prisoners of conscience, detained solely for their perceived or actual peaceful political affiliations," the organisation, headquartered in New York, said. It also called for the release of Bizimungu's political ally, Charles Ntakirutinka.
The detainees include peasant farmers, teachers, accountants, civil servants and shopkeepers who, Amnesty said, were thought to members of Bizimungu's banned political party, the Parti Démocratique pour le Renouveau-UBUYANJA. Amnesty expressed fears that the authorities would ill-treat the detainees and coerce them into making statements incriminating Bizimungu or his political allies.
Bizimungu served as president of Rwanda under the current Rwandan Patriotic Front-led government, and Ntakirutinka is a former minister of public works. They were arrested on 19 and 20 April respectively, having tried to launch UBUYANJA in May 2001. They are being held on remand at the central prison in the capital, Kigali, for threatening state security - a charge that carries a maximum prison sentence of 10 years - and criminal association. [Full statement on www.amnesty.org]
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