The injustice of the Dutch system


Tuesday, 3 August 2021

Dutch ministry works underhanded

Yesterday, I was asked via Twitter why I did not write about the trial of Jean Claude Iyamuremye. I explained that I did not do so because I could not be present at the trial itself. I am also not allowed to enter Rwanda to speak to witnesses. I can only write about the trial via the monitor reports, and the quality of those reports is not great, as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has also noted. Very occasionally I write about the Mugimba and Iyamuremye trials on this site.

Today, I want to write more about Venant Rutunga who was extradited last week. According to the same twitterer, Rutunga was rightly sent to Rwanda. After all, he had exhausted all possibilities to appeal in the Netherlands. The twitterer is clearly not aware of the Dutch administrative law that makes an adequate defence impossible.

Rutunga applied for asylum in the Netherlands in 2000. In 2003 he was told by the IND that he was suspected of genocide. In 2005, the Amsterdam court - the only one that looked into the content of the accusations - found that the IND's suspicions did not stand up. Still, the IND seized the Rwanda Project of 2008 to scrutinise his file again. In 2009, he was again accused of genocide.

The IND's reasoning was very flawed: we suspect you of genocide, so you must be deported to Rwanda. You are safe there because you are not on any list of genocide suspects. Not even at the Gacaca courts and Arusha Tribunal. So the IND sends someone back who is not suspected of anything in Rwanda and therefore knows better than all of Rwanda and the Rwanda Tribunal put together.

Rutunga then enters the administrative process mill, from which there is no escape. No judge looks at the content of his file anymore, there is no review of whether the accusations are true. In the end, the Raad van State, the highest appeal court and highly politicized, unquestioningly accepts the decisions of the successive judges: Rutunga can be extradited to Rwanda. There he can count on humane treatment and a fair trial.

Meanwhile, the Netherlands does something very underhand: in 2010, it warns Rwanda that Rutunga is under suspicion. Rwanda, which has not cared one bit about Rutunga, seizes this gift with both hands and asks for his extradition. In 2017, when Rwanda had not yet made much of a fuss about the steps that were to lead to the extradition, the Netherlands once again knocked on Rwandan doors. Hey, how are things going with your extradition request? And oh yes, here are his medical records, so that you can say that you will take good care of him. At the request of the Genocide Fugitive Tracking Unit, Rutunga will finally be arrested in 2019 to be extradited.

The man has had no chance of a proper defence in the Netherlands. In Rwanda, he has little chance of a fair trial, see what happened to Jean Claude Iyamuremye and Jean Baptiste Mugimba. More about them this week.

Meanwhile, about forty IND suspects run the risk of also being forced to return to Rwanda. 

The information in this text comes from a very reliable source.

Sunday 1 August 2021

Jean Baptiste Nyabusore on hunger strike since his arrest

Jean Baptiste Nyabusore was arrested last Thursday morning. Rwanda is asking for his extradition. Nyabusore went on hunger strike immediately after his arrest; his five children fear for him. If his health deteriorates sharply, he will probably be force-fed. Because he is in prison, the state is responsible for his physical condition.

Last Friday, there was a hearing in which the judge found Nyabusore to be a flight risk. Belgium - which is close to Eindhoven - does not extradite anyone to Rwanda. Nyabusore must therefore wait for the end of the procedure in prison. The interest of the Rwandan state is put before the interest of the individual.

Nyabusore has always claimed to be innocent. Anyone who reads his official report (written by Foreign Affairs) will see that it is - as usual - full of holes. He was branded a genocide victim by the IND on the basis of careless research, anonymous witnesses and unverifiable sources. 

There has been a lot of talk in recent months in the Netherlands about the disfunction of bodies like the IND and the Tax Administration. As an individual, you do not stand a chance in the impossible administrative procedure. In April, immigration lawyers published the shocking report Unheard of injustice in immigration law. It shows an IND that does not show any compassion. It does not want to see human dimensions. The report concludes malice, bias and a great unwillingness to investigate facts. The same malice, bias and unwillingness to investigate can be seen in the IND's handling of Nyabusore's file.

There is a good chance that he will indeed be extradited to Rwanda, especially now that there was silence regarding Rutunga, who was extradited last week. Nobody protested. A few small reports appeared in the media based on a statement from the Rwandan embassy in The Hague.


Thursday July 29th, 2021

Rwanda receives man extradited by the Netherlands jubilantly

Last Monday, Venant Rutunga was put on a plane from Schiphol to Kigali. He was accused of genocide by the Dutch immigration Service (IND) in 2010, after which Rwanda eagerly took over his file and demanded his extradition. He was arrested by the Dutch police in March 2019. All procedures were gone through and so extradition became inevitable.

Rutunga was received in Kigali by the Rwandan authorities and taken to prison. Which one, we do not know, but it is most likely Nyanza. Two Dutch Rwandans are already in prison there: Jean Baptiste Mugimba and Jean Claude Iyamuremye. In state-run newspaper The New Times, Rutunga has already been found guilty. 

Naturally, Rwandan authorities were rubbing their hands at Kigali airport. "A blow to genocide deniers", say The New Times headlines. Anyone who criticises the system is a genocide denier, by the way.

Early this morning Jean Baptiste Nyabusore from Eindhoven, was arrested by the Dutch police. He is also at great risk of extradition. The Dutch system considers the political and human rights situation in Rwanda to be fine and therefore no obstacle.

Anyone who follows me, will know that there is much wrong with the way in which the Netherlands deals with those who are accused of genocide by the IND. They end up in administrative law, where they have no chance whatsoever. It is not about guilt or innocence, but about whether procedures have been followed properly. Well, we all know by now - thanks to the Tax Authorities - what that means. An inhumane, prejudiced, arrogant treatment. Just like the Tax Authorities, the IND is deaf to every reasonable argument, every plea.

The Dutch government would rather not try the people in the Netherlands, because that would cost an incredible amount of time and money. The Netherlands also says that there are better conditions for a fair trial in Rwanda. That is not true, as the trials against Jean Claude Iyamuremye and Jean Baptiste Mugimba prove. Iyamuremye was recently sentenced to 25 years in prison, despite contradictory witnesses. Mugimba's sentence is expected any minute now.

The IND has a total of thirty to forty people in its sights, including the mother of Victoire Ingabire.

The Netherlands cleverly used the holiday season for the arrest of Nyabusore and the extradition of Rutunga. All politicians are on holiday and the media are busy with Corona or the Olympics.

From now on, I will write regularly about these matters again. Too much is happening!