At least forty people have been detained over cases related to genocide ideology that were registered during the Genocide commemoration week that ended on Monday, Police have said. Police spokesperson CSP Celestin Twahirwa said Eastern Province and the City of Kigali registered the highest number of cases while the Northern Province had the smallest number. The police publicist said that offences of genocide ideology during the commemoration week included assault on Genocide survivors or their property as well as uttering words that minimise the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. “An example of Genocide denial and trivialisation include a case where someone asked his neighbours why they remember the Tutsi and went on to say that he can never participate in remembering the killed Tutsi,” CSP Twahirwa said in an interview yesterday. Genocide ideology is punishable under the law No. 84/2013 of 11/09/2013. According to the law, genocide ideology is a deliberate act, committed in public, whether orally, written or video or by any other means which may depict ethnic, religious, or racial bias with the aim of advocating for the commission of genocide or support ing genocide. The law says that genocide ideology-related offences include incitement to commit genocide, negation of Genocide, minimisation of Genocide by downplaying its gravity or consequences, justifying Genocide, and concealment or destruction of evidence of Genocide or other crimes against humanity. Genocide ideology-related offences also include theft or destruction of remains of victims of the Genocide, demolishing a memorial site or cemetery for the victims of the Genocide, and violence against a Genocide survivor. The penal code states that any person who commits the crime of genocide ideology and other related offences shall be liable to a term of imprisonment of between five and nine years and a fine of between Rwf100,000 and Rwf1,000,000, or both. Even if 36 cases of Genocide ideology offences were registered last week, the number is less than the 49 cases registered during last year’s commemoration week, Twahirwa said. He also explained that last week’s cases were not as violent as the cases previously registered, which included killing Genocide survivors and destroying their property. “There has been a lower level of violence this year compared to previous years,” Twahirwa said. He urged Rwandans to maintain calm during the 100 days of commemorating the Genocide so that they do not get into trouble with the law. “People need to avoid denying the Genocide because it is punishable by law,” he said. Twahirwa said the 40 people who have been arrested in connection with genocide ideology will be soon handed to prosecution for subsequent trial. Although the official mourning period ended on Monday, commemoration activities will continue until July 4 when Rwandans mark Liberation Day. The Executive Secretary of the National Commission for the Fight against Genocide (CNLG), Dr Jean Damascène Bizimana, has also urged Rwandans to allow their neighbours to calmly continue mourning their relatives who died at different dates from April 7 up to July 4, 1994. “As commemoration activities continue, we have to keep fighting against Genocide denial and any form of violence against Genocide survivors,” Bizimana said on Monday.
