Nothing justifies police brutality against suspected wrongdoers in Rwanda. After just a week when Dr. Gasakure is murdered by the Rwandan Police, another person was shot Dead in Musanze District (former Ruhengeri).

The problem is not what the Police says, but why should they use disproportionate force against unarmed person to an extent of shooting them dead.  All these cases should be used as a prism through which one can conclude that the Rwandan Police is lacking skills and professionalism to handle suspects.

It is now crystal clear that the Rwandan law enforcement officers are not well trained to deal with suspected criminal-citizens. Indeed, shooting suspects are not isolated cases, it’s quite disturbing that after all the donor money for training the Rwandan police, we still see murder cases by the police that many  Rwandans would expect to be handled  in a professional way.

The Rwandan police and all the authorities concerned should talk about training the Rwandan law enforcers so that they could handle the suspects in humane way without violating the basic fundamental rights of suspects.

Rwandan police officers should be trained to arrest suspects without any loss of life, and that is called “appropriate training”. Indeed, Rwanda enjoys good relationship with US and UK; I guess the Rwandan officers could be helped to make a “non-lethal arrest or protecting suspects after an arrest”.

It’s very disturbing to see someone dying because of selling some items on the street of Rwanda illegally, most of these people are jobless or an innocent person who has been suspected to do wrong and the justification from law enforcement is: He resisted an arrest or was trying to escape!

Professional Police all over the world could arrest anyone who resists an arrest and still get arrested without loss of life or even bodily injuries. This is one of the ethics of the professional police which is pro- people; basically Police brutality can only be ended when officers face justice. Institutions paid for by the public must always be held to account, especially when we entrust public servants like the police with a responsibility to ensure that the most vulnerable in society are protected. Sadly, the opposite is often the case.

We seem to see an increasing number of examples when the innocent and most vulnerable in society are finding themselves victimized and criminalized at the hands of the police who as members of the public should be accountable for their actions the same way as anyone else.Unlike in some developed countries where the Police is accountable for their actions, in Rwandait is not the case and police has become the militarized arm of the state. It’s interesting that it’s usually people who have no direct knowledge, or indeed no direct experience with police brutality, who deny there is a problem.

Through social and  alternative media people are now able to see the problem of Rwanda police brutality in a much wider sense, seeing for themselves how many communities often find themselves brutalized and repressed at the hands of the police and in some places, pretty worryingly, an increasingly militarized police force.

The issue of deaths in  custody often disproportionately affects those the government has a political interest and again this is a common problem, a hangover from Kagame military regime, which arguably although they have shifted  from a rebel movement, never  have the rebel tactics left.

There’s probably no easy answer in addressing such a widespread issue like police brutality, but raising awareness of the issue is at least a start. Often many in the media in Rwanda fail to talk about the issue in a meaningful context in which the public relate too and it is often left to foreign activists or Rwanda Diaspora to bring such problems to the forefront of people’s attention.

Joseph Ruhumuriza

Legal Researcher Great Lakes Human Rights Link.