Rwandan singer Kizito Mihigo is one of three winners this year of the Vaclav Havel Prize. This prize rewards each year artists who oppose the dictatorship with their works.
According to the Human Rights Foundation statement, he was first awarded for the work of his foundation for reconciliation, the Kizito Mihigo Foundation for Peace. Kizito Mihigo himself was a survivor and had worked in schools, but also in prisons, with those who were convicted of a genocide of which he was a victim.
” Huge courage “
But if he received this award, it is also because of his controversial song, Igisobanuro cy’urupfu ( The explanation of death in French). This is the very meaning of the Vaclav Havel Prize. According to the statement, Kizito Mihigo showed ” enormous courage ” in 2014 by playing this song in which he called for compassion for all the victims, including those of the massacres of the Rwandan Patriotic Front of President Paul Kagame. ” The regime quickly banned this song that contradicts official history ,” recalls the Human Rights Foundation.
Immediately afterwards, Kizito Mihigo was arrested and sentenced to 10 years in prison for ” conspiring against the government “. He was released after four years. His foundation was never able to resume its activities. Kizito Mihigo died in suspicious conditions in prison on February 17, 2020 after seeking to flee the country. Kigali has always claimed that he committed suicide.
Kizito Mihigo received this posthumous award at the same time as Chinese artist Baciucao and Saudi satirical comedian Omar Abdulaziz.