Govt denounces Kabuye’s arrest

GASABO - The Government Sunday denounced the arrest in Germany of the Director of State Protocol, Rose Kabuye, while on an official mission. Foreign affairs minister Rosemary Museminali told a news conference that the government had summoned the German Ambassador, Christian Clages, to formally protest the arrest. “We emphasised in the note that Kabuye holds a diplomatic passport and her job grants her diplomatic immunity, she was performing diplomatic duties and therefore the Germany authorities wouldn’t have arrested her; they should have instead, as required by the Vienna convention, given her all the courtesies and accorded her the dignity that she deserves to perform her duties,” said Museminali. She said that prior to her travel, the German government had warned Kabuye that she risked being arrested but she still went ahead with her journey because she had nothing to reproach herself. Kabuye has in the past gone to and through Germany while performing her official duties never being bothered by the German authorities. Museminali and Justice Minister Tharcisse Karugarama attended the conference which was called by the Minister of Information, Louise Mushikiwabo. The ministers said that the Rwanda official was targeted maliciously saying that she was innocent. “The indictments are just concoctions. It is just a political game played to cover up the truth,” said Karugarama. “The French are using a flawed legal process. We have always been surprised that people can take these bogus indictments seriously. How can you condemn someone before even bothering to hear their side of the story?” he wondered. “The government of Rwanda, once again strongly condemns the judicial bullying it’s being subjected to by European judges and the perversion of the principle of universal jurisdiction by some powerful nations,” Mushikiwabo, reading from a communiqué. Kabuye was arrested in Frankfurt on the basis of an arrest warrant issued by a French Judge, Jean Louis Bruguiere, who claims that she played a role in the shooting down of former Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana’s plane. Mushikiwabo revealed that after her arrest, Kabuye was immediately produced before a German court and was offered two options, to either contest the warrant in Germany or face it in France. Surprisingly, Kabuye chose to contest the arrest from France and she will soon be flown to Paris. “Kabuye is innocent, which is why she undertook the trip despite warnings, and ultimately why she is ready to face trial in France,” Mushikiwabo said. Mushikiwabo further explained that the Government of Rwanda believes it is a political game designed to blur the truth about the 1994 Tutsi Genocide. A commission of inquiry chaired by former Justice Minister Jean de Dieu Mucyo, mid this year concluded that over 30 top French government and military officials were implicated in the Genocide. The prosecution department is expected to issues indictments soon. A case filed by Rose Kabuye, a former Lt. Colonel in the Rwandan army, and two other retired officers, Sam Kanyemera and Jacob Tumwine, challenging the indictments has been ignored by the French authorities. Two current Rwanda Defense Forces (RDF) Generals Charles Kayonga and Jack Nziza, who were also indicted, petitioned a Belgian court demanding that the arrest warrants be quashed and disregarded with damages; their case will be heard in January next year after more than a year and a half in the court corridors. Rwanda also filed a case against France in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) but France opted not to respond to the ICJ to defend itself. ”Why do you think France refused to go to The Hague? There is an answer in their refusal to go to court,” said Karugarama. Mushikiwabo expressed the government’s frustration over several master minders of the 1994 Tutsi Genocide who are still enjoying freedom and protection in European capitals including Germany and France; “even as they continue to pursue their extermination plans on the European soil.” Last week, Germany released two notorious genocidaires, including Callixte Mbarushimana, The secretary General of the DRC-based Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), remnants of people who carried out the 1994 Genocide of Tutsis. Ends

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Govt denounces Kabuye’s arrest