Amnesty releases report alleging torture by Rwandan military

On 8 October 2012 Amnesty International released a report entitled "Shrouded in Secrecy: Illegal Detention and torture by Military Intelligence". The report alleges that dozens of people suspected of "threatening national security" have been held in a network of secret detention facilities run by the military.

"Progress over the last decade by the government of Rwanda in improving conditions of detention in prisons falling under the authority of the Rwanda Correctional Service (RCS) is being undermined by the parallel detention system run by the military," says the report.

The Amnesty Report, based on two years of research including seven visits to Rwanda, details unlawful detention, torture and other forms of ill-treatment and enforced disappearances, mostly of civilians, at the hands of Rwanda’s military intelligence, known as J2.

Amnesty conducted more than 70 face-to-face interviews for this report, including eight interviews with torture victims previously detained by the military. Amnesty also interviewed family members of individuals 'disappeared', unlawfully detained or tortured, as well as lawyers, members of civil society, and individuals who had observed court proceedings.

"The report documents more than 45 cases of unlawful detention and 18 allegations of torture or other ill-treatment by Rwandan military intelligence in 2010 and 2011. Some individuals who were 'disappeared' remain in secret detention in 2012. Amnesty International believes that the actual number of people who were detained and who were at risk of, or subjected to, torture and other ill-treatment during this period is higher than those documented here," says the report.