Rwandan ex-spy chief freed after UK court refuses to extradite him to Spain
August 11, 2015 Leave a comment
A Rwandan former intelligence chief, whose legal team is led by the wife of British former Prime Minister Tony Blair, has been freed after a court in the United Kingdom refused to extradite him to Spain to face war crimes charges. General Emmanuel Karenzi Karake, 54, was the most senior intelligence official in the administration of Rwandan President Paul Kagame. He rose to fame as a commander in the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), an armed rebel group from Rwanda’s minority Tutsi tribe that fought to end the genocide inflicted upon the Tutsis by their rival Hutus. In 1994, following the death of nearly a million people, the RPF took power in Rwanda and ended the slaughter. That accomplishment caused a rapid upsurge in the popularity of Karake and other senior RPF leaders. Karake’s popularity remains strong among the Tutsis despite his dramatic falling-out with Kagame in 2010, which led to the general’s dismissal from the government.
Critics, including groups like Human Rights Watch, have accused the Kagame government of instigating mass reprisals after assuming power in Rwanda, including mass murders of Hutus and other tribal members. In 2008, the Spanish government issued an arrest warrant for Karake, accusing him of having participated in “crimes of terrorism” and “war crimes” directed against civilians. Of particular interest to the Spanish authorities was Karake’s alleged participation in the 1997 killing of three Spanish citizens, who were in Rwanda as part of an outreach effort by Spanish medical charity Médicos del Mundo. The former RPF intelligence chief is also accused of having authorized the killing of six more Spanish citizens in Rwanda in the mid-1990s.
Karake was arrested in late June at London’s Heathrow International Airport on a European Arrest Warrant stemming from the Spanish indictment. Shortly afterwards he was granted bail pending extradition proceedings. But the case was dismissed on Monday, following an early morning hearing at the Westminster Magistrates Court in the British capital. According to the British Crown Prosecution Service, the Spanish extradition request was thrown out because the law did not permit UK authorities to hear offences committed abroad by non-British nationals. Karake was then able to leave the court, cheered by many of his supporters who were demonstrating outside.
It is worth pointing out that the Rwandan general was represented in Britain by an international law firm called Omnia Strategy, which was founded by Cherie Blair, wife of British former Prime Minister Tony Blair. It has been reported that Mrs Blair also led General Karake’s legal team in London.
► Author: Joseph Fitsanakis | Date: 11 August 2015 | Permalink
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Rwandan spies target government critics abroad: Canadian report
August 14, 2015 by Joseph Fitsanakis Leave a comment
The report claims that there is “a well- documented pattern of repression of Rwandan government critics, both inside and outside Rwanda”, and says there is ample evidence of involvement by Rwandan spies in threats, attacks and even killings of opposition activists living abroad. The document cites the case of Patrick Karegeya, a leading member of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), an armed Tutsi rebel group that fought to end the genocide inflicted upon the Tutsis by their rival Hutus in the 1990s. Karegeya, who used to be director general of External Intelligence in the RPA, fell out with Rwanda’s President, Paul Kagame, in 2004. In January 2014, Karegeya was found dead in a hotel in Johannesburg, South Africa, where he had been living in exile.
Also cited in the report is a case in the United Kingdom, where two Rwandan exiles were warned by the police in 2011 that there were “threats to their [personal] safety emanating from the Rwandan government”. There was also evidence of Rwandan intelligence activity targeting opposition figures in Canada, said the report. In one recent case, the Rwandan government had attempted to “organize indoctrination training” aimed at Canadian youths of Rwandan heritage, but had to drop its plan following an investigation by CSIS. IntelNews regulars might also remember the case of Evode Mudaheranwa, a Rwandan diplomat who was expelled by the government of Sweden in 2012 for allegedly operating under orders by the Kagame government to silence its critics abroad.
► Author: Joseph Fitsanakis | Date: 14 August 2015 | Permalink
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