Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
The constitution and law prohibit such practices, but there were numerous reports of abuse of detainees and prisoners by police, military, and NISS officials. Authorities dismissed or disciplined some police officers for use of excessive force and other abuses. Police investigations led to formal criminal charges filed in court in more serious cases.
In 2012 the government signed into law a penal code that upgrades torture from an aggravating circumstance to a crime in itself. The law mandates the maximum penalty, defined by the extent of injury, for SSF and other government perpetrators.
HRW and local observers reported that individuals detained during the January to May arrests of alleged FDLR collaborators were interrogated, abused, and in some instances tortured at military and police detention centers, including the Kwa Gacinya detention center in Kigali and the Kami military intelligence camp.
There were numerous reports of detainee abuse and lengthy illegal detention by police and the SSF at the Gikondo Transit Center (locally known as Kwa Kabuga), the Kwa Gacinya detention center in Kigali, and the Kami military intelligence camp.
On March 21, a court sentenced Jean-Baptiste Icyitonderwa to six years in prison for presentation of a petition that prosecutors alleged was a “false document” to the prime minister. Icyitonderwa was one of two university students who were arrested in September 2013 following an attempt to deliver a petition to the Office of the Prime Minister protesting the government’s decision to levy fees on university students in certain socioeconomic categories. The students reported police beat them with metal rods at the Remera police station in Kigali and held them in solitary cells without food and water for two days. Authorities released the students one week later after a judge dismissed all charges. Despite reporting their torture allegations to a judge, no public investigation occurred. In November 2013 Icyitonderwa was rearrested and charged with using false documents after police alleged that some of the signatories to the petition were not enrolled as university students. FULL REPORT
