Amnesty concern at civil society activist’s detention

The human rights organisation Amnesty International on Monday expressed concern for the safety of civil society activist Bruno Bahati, arrested at the Rwanda-Uganda border on 22 April and now reportedly being held in a military detention centre in Goma, eastern DRC, which is notorious for torture. Bahati was arrested as he returned from a civil society conference in the government-held capital city of DRC, Kinshasa, and held in military detention in Rwanda before being handed over to the Rwandan-backed Congolese rebel group, the Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie (RCD, an Amnesty press release stated. Conditions of detention at the Goma detention centre, known as ‘Chien mechant’, were “very harsh” and Bahati was “at risk of torture”, the statement claimed. Bahati was reported to be accused of links with armed groups opposed to the RCD but the basis for this allegation was unclear and could stem from his attendance at the Kinshasa conference, it said. Amnesty said the legal grounds for Bahati’s detention in Rwanda and subsequent transfer to Goma required clarification, and that Rwanda was responsible for the detainee’s continued detention and well-being. It also called on the authorities in Kigali to order Bahati’s “immediate and unconditional release.”