Attacks and Threats Against Rwandan Opponents and Critics Abroad
JANUARY 28, 2014
Since the genocide which devastated the country and claimed more than half a million lives in 1994, Rwanda has made great strides in rebuilding its infrastructure, developing its economy, and delivering public services. But civil and political rights remain severely curtailed, and freedom of expression is tightly restricted. The government dominated by the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF)—a former rebel movement that ended the genocide—does not tolerate opposition, challenge, or criticism. In the 19 years since the RPF took power, Human Rights Watch has documented numerous cases of arbitrary arrests, detentions, prosecutions, killings, torture, enforced disappearances, threats, harassment, and intimidation against government opponents and critics. These abuses emerged in the immediate post-genocide period in the mid-1990s and have continued to this day. […]