Kabuye’s arrest, Rwanda’s chance to claim justice - Karugarama

The Minister of Justice and Attorney General, Tharcisse Karugarama, yesterday said that Rose Kabuye’s current detention in Germany will give Rwanda a chance to claim justice. Accordingly, this is an opportunity to challenge French Judge Jean-Louis Bruguière’s controversial arrest warrants. Karugarama was speaking at a press conference, at Telecom House, together with Information Minister, Louise Mushikiwabo, said that the government of Rwanda had tried several times to bring the issue of the arrest warrants against its officials to the court but that the French government had refused to respond. “She is a sacrifice for Rwandans and Africa so that this arrogance and bullying can be challenged,” Karugarama said of the Director of State Protocol. Rwandan authorities and several independent analysts consider Bruguière’s indictments and arrest warrants as politically motivated by French officials who want to cover-up their role in the 1994 Tutsi Genocide in which more than a million Rwandans perished. “These indictments are an abuse of international law. It is political and judicial bullying that Rwanda will not accept,” said minister Mushikiwabo. Karugarama said that France did not make an appearance at the International Court of Justice where Rwanda hoped to challenge Bruguiere’s report and clear the arrest warrants. French courts remain reluctant to hear cases of Rwandan officials who are seeking the dismissal of the warrants. However, Kabuye who has now spent over a week in a German prison wants to be extradited to France in order to challenge the accusations against her and eight other former senior officers in the Rwandese Patriotic Army (RPA), a force that stopped the genocide. She is falsely accused of shooting down the plane former Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana was flying in. Analysts also say that this scenario leaves France with fewer chances of continuing to hide the truth as Kabuye armed with enough evidence to counter the accusations. “Her arrest will bring something new. I think that Rose is a real sacrifice, she is going to suffer a little bit but she will survive…whatever is happening will be a step towards unveiling the truth,” said Faustin Kagame, a Rwandan journalist. Kabuye was arrested on Sunday at Frankfurt Airport as she arrived to prepare President Kagame’s visit. Many international institutions, governments, and independent organisations have continually denounced her arrest and the indictments on which her unfortunate detention was based. Ends

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Kabuye’s arrest, Rwanda’s chance to claim justice - Karugarama