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Rights Commission traces detainees

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Tuesday confirmed the government’s detention of five Rwandans, including two soldiers and three civilians, who were allegedly forcibly returned to the country after being arrested recently in Burundi and Tanzania. The five detainees were being held at the Kanombe military detention facility, the Rwanda News Agency (RNA) quoted NHRC president Gasana Ndoba as saying. The NHRC had been allowed visit the prisoners to assess their conditions of imprisonment but was told the files against them had not yet been finalised, Ndoba said. “The Rwandan government denied any sort of torture to the detainees, and indicated that their imprisonment was not connected to any political affair” but to the murder and robbery of an Indian, he added. Political analysts in the Rwandan capital Kigali have linked the detentions to a campaign to restore to power the former King Kigeli V, who was overthrown in 1961 and is currently living in the US.


This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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