Bizimungu handed over to prosecutor-general's office

Former Rwandan President Pasteur Bizimungu and former Public Works Minister Charles Ntakirutinka were handed over to the prosecutor-general's office by the police on Monday after the completion of investigations, Rwanda's police spokesman, Tony Kuramba, has told IRIN.

Kuramba said on Thursday that police accused the two of breaching state security, sowing seeds of division and spreading rumours that could cause fear in the population. "Despite having been advised by the government not to establish a political party until the end of the transitional period when multiparty politics could be resumed, they have been involved in clandestine mobilisation for their party," he said.

"We have been investigating such activities, and on 19 April, police conducted a search at the residences of the two and recovered publications containing anti-government propaganda, which would spread rumours that would cause fear and discontent. The publications also called for rebellion against the government, and predicted the return of genocide," Kuramba said.

"We also found documents which link Bizimungu to a bank case in which clients lost their money," he added. Bizimungu was arrested on the 19 April and faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted.

Ntakirutinka, the secretary-general of Bizimungu's unregistered political party, the Parti democratique pour le renouveau (PDR - Party for Democracy and Renewal), was arrested on 20 April after documents and computer equipment were seized from his home. However, efforts by IRIN to obtain comment from the prosecutor-general's office proved unsuccessful.

Bizimungu's bid to launch the PDR at the end of May 2001 was quashed by the government, which said it was aimed at "destabilising the country". Bizimungu was briefly placed under house arrest and all his privileges as former president were withdrawn. Two weeks later, three of the six founders of the PDR defected, the Rwanda News Agency reported at the time, citing the "promotion of ethnicity among Rwandans" as a substantive reason for quitting.

Under current Rwandan law, political parties must be approved by the government, and political campaigning is prohibited during the current period of transition to a new national government.

Bizimungu, an ethnic Hutu, joined the rebel Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) just as the movement was beginning its push into Rwanda from neighbouring Uganda in October 1990. After holding a series of senior posts in the RPF, he was named president of Rwanda's government of national unity formed in July 1994 after the genocide, which resulted in the massacre of some 800,000 Tutsis and politically moderate Hutus. He resigned in April 2000, citing differences with the RPF, and was replaced by the then vice-president, Paul Kagame.

Meanwhile, the Rwandan Democratic Alliance (RDA) on Wednesday said in a statement that the arrest and detention of Bizimungu and Ntakirutinka constituted not only a blatant denial of independent political opposition but also placed unprecedented obstacles in the way of a peaceful transition to democracy in Rwanda.

It said, among other things, that these actions showed that Kagame's high-sounding rhetoric on matters of democracy and institutions of good governance, such as the legal and constitutional commission, the national commission on unity and reconciliation, the national commission for human rights, as well as the national electoral commission, "is simply aimed at hoodwinking the Rwandan people and misleading the international community so as to legitimise and perpetuate his dictatorship under the Rwandan Patriotic Front/Rwanda Patriotic Army regime".

"Obviously, the refusal or failure of Paul Kagame and his regime to meet these popular demands, shall be construed by the RDA as a clear message to Rwandans, to the region and to the international community that a peaceful transition to democratic rule is not possible under Paul Kagame's leadership. Under the circumstances, Paul Kagame and his regime shall be held fully accountable for the consequences of such irresponsibility," the statement added.

On Sunday, the Brussels-based Centre de lutte contre l'impunite et l'injustice au Rwanda (Centre for the Fight against Impunity and Injustice in Rwanda) issued a statement demanding the immediate and unconditional release of Bizimungu and Ntakirutinka.

It called on the Rwandan authorities to identify and punish those responsible for the assassination of Cassien Munyarubuga, a member of the PDR, on 26 December 2001 in Nyarutarama. It also urged the Rwandan government to "guarantee all Rwandans, without exception, freedom of expression and association".