The FDU-Inkingi Party Has Sadly Learned the Death of the Rwandan Singer Kizito Mihigo

PRESS RELEASE

It is with sadness that on Monday, February 17, 2020 the FDU-INKINGI party learned of the death of the Rwandan singer Kizito Mihigo. In its Twitter statement, the police claim that it was a suicide that occurred in the Police cell of Remera where Mr. Mihigo had been held for 3 days.

The FDU-INKINGI party has very serious doubts about the police version of the incident and believes that it is rather an assassination disguised as suicide. Indeed, Mr MIHIGO was well at the time of his arrest, deeply religious and, according to family members who visited him 3 days before, there was no indication that he would be suicidal. His arrest itself, as reported in the media by the RIB services, leaves questions unanswered and the description of the incident to be a well-crafted attempt to cover up its crime.

Mr. MIHIGO was accused of wanting to leave the country via Burundi to join the armed groups fighting against the Rwandan government, a one-sided and biased version of the Rwandan government’s services, which recently see enemies everywhere and in everything.

Mr MIHIGO died in detention, and therefore under the direct responsibility of the Rwandan police services. This death in such a situation is not an isolated case: several Rwandans arrested and detained by the security services have died shot dead at close range (the police claiming that the person wanted to escape, some of them even handcuffed), or reported missing and never found (the police claiming an escape), or found dead in their cell or in the open air (the police claiming suicide or an unsolved murder).

In this regard, we may recall the cases of Dr. Emmanuel Gasakure, lawyer Donat Mutunzi, lawyer Nzamwita Ntabwoba Toy, Boniface Twagirimana, Anselme Mutuyimana, and many others….

*The FDU-INKINGI party strongly condemns the assassination of Mr. MIHIGO and calls on the Rwandan State to shed light on this death in order to find the culprits and punish them.

*The FDU-INKINGI party calls on the Rwandan government to allow the establishment of an international and independent Commission of Inquiry to investigate all the repeated crimes that regularly take place on Rwandan soil, including homicides, enforced disappearances, torture and degrading treatment.

*The FDU-INKINGI party conveys its deepest condolences to the family and friends of the singer Kizito MIHIGO and appeals to them to continue his work for peace, forgiveness and reconciliation among all Rwandans.

*Mr. Kizito MIHIGO is yet another survivor of the genocide that falls under the indiscriminate violence of the government led by President Kagame and the RPF party. The FDU-INKINGI party calls on all Rwandans who love peace and justice to mobilize for peace and national reconciliation and thus reject the violence maintained by the current government for political purposes. The FDU-INKINGI party will be at their side in this struggle. May the blood of the national heroes of reconciliation not be shed in vain, but may it serve us all as a spur to continue this noble struggle to which it has committed itself.

*The FDU-INKINGI party remains concerned for the lives of other opponents and human rights activists, Mrs. Victoire INGABIRE, President of the DALFA Umurinzi party, who remains the leader and symbol of the Rwandan democratic opposition. We call on the international community, especially the financial countries of the Rwandan regime, to ensure that she is protected.

*Finally, the FDU-INKINGI party recommends to the international community and the friendly country of Rwanda to put pressure on President Kagame and his administration to stop the violence and crimes that the government commits against its own people in order to stay in power. We ask them to make aid conditional to the respect for individual rights and freedoms of Rwandans.

Violence breeds for violence, and therefore cannot be a viable method of government. For the FDU-INKINGI party, only dialogue can stop the violence and lay solid foundations for a stable and peaceful Rwandan society.

Done in Rouen, February 17, 2020

Théophile MPOZEMBIZI
Commissioner FDU-INKINGI in charge of Information and Communication

infocominfo@fdu-rwanda.com ; info@fdu-rwanda.com