Members of the Rwanda National Congress opposition party shout slogans while holding pictures of slain party founder Patrick Karegeya, left, and posters of Rwandan President Paul Kagame, right, during a demonstration outside the Rwandan embassy in Pretoria on Jan. 9, 2014

After five years of delays, South Africa is facing mounting pressure to issue arrest warrants for a group of alleged assassins who were found by police investigators to be directly linked to the government of Rwandan President Paul Kagame.

In a ruling on Thursday, a South African judge said the murder of Rwandan dissident Patrick Karegeya was committed by “known” persons. Instead of holding a full inquest, he ordered the case to be handed over to prosecutors, who will consider whether to issue arrest warrants.

Mr. Karegeya, a former Rwandan spy chief and top aide to Mr. Kagame who later had a falling out with the Rwandan President, was strangled to death in a luxury hotel room in Johannesburg on New Year’s Eve in 2013.

Justice Mashiane Mathopa made his ruling on Thursday after receiving a new summary of the police investigation, which concluded that the main suspects in the Karegeya murder and several other attempted assassinations were “directly linked to the involvement of the Rwandan government.”

Patrick Karegeya, Rwanda’s former spy chief, was found dead in a hotel on New Year’s Eve in 2013.

The police statement and judge’s ruling are further evidence supporting the findings of a 2014 investigation by The Globe and Mail, which documented the role of the Rwandan government in plots to kill Rwandan dissidents in South Africa and elsewhere in the world.

The suspects in the Karegeya murder fled from South Africa “immediately after the commission of the crime” and are still in Rwanda today, which makes it “very difficult” to trace them, the police statement said.

Although there is no extradition treaty between Rwanda and South Africa, the family of Mr. Karegeya wants the South African authorities to issue warrants for the arrest of the suspects, which could allow the suspects to be detained if they travel outside Rwanda. The ruling by the judge will add to this pressure, making it clear to South African prosecutors that they must consider the arrest-warrant option.

In his summary of the police investigation, Lieutenant-Colonel Kwena Motlhamme hinted at political interference that may have stalled the prosecution of the main suspects.

He disclosed that the police investigators had been summoned to South Africa’s parliament in 2014, where they were questioned by MPs about the role of the Rwandan government.


Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame answers questions from the media at a press conference at a convention center in the capital Kigali, Rwanda Monday, April 8, 2019.THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

South Africa later expelled several Rwandan diplomats, accusing them of involvement in “organized criminal networks” and plots to assassinate Mr. Karegeya and another prominent dissident. Relations between the two countries were frosty for years.

But in recent years, South Africa and Rwanda have been patching up their differences, and their leaders have held a series of meetings to improve relations, leading to concerns by the Karegeya family that the South African government could try to bury the cases of the attacks on dissidents.

Several of Mr. Karegeya’s family members and lawyers said they were pleased by the judge’s ruling on Thursday, which they see as a key step towards justice in the case. They do not expect Rwanda to hand over the suspects, but they want the arrest warrants to be issued, so that the suspects can be arrested if they travel.

Source : https://www.theglobeandmail.com