Tactics and tools for the protection
of Human Rights Defenders

5 December 2011

In the early hours of 1 December 2011, Rwandan journalist and human rights defender Mr Charles Ingabire was shot at a bar in Kampala.

Charles Ingabire was living in Uganda as a political refugee, having been a vocal critic of President Paul Kagame in Rwanda. He was the editor of the online news magazine Inyenyeri, a platform that he used to continue raising human rights concerns in Rwanda after he went into exile.

While several details remain unclear, it is reported that Charles Ingabire and another individual entered a bar in Bukesa, Kampala, just after midnight on the morning of 1 December. He was subsequently shot dead in the bar gardens around 2am. The police reportedly recovered five cartridges of sub machine gun ammunition from the scene. It is further reported that two suspects are currently being held by the police.

A source close to the human rights defender said that Charles Ingabire had recently been investigating the case of a Rwandan spy who was arrested in possession of a large sum of money and a firearm in Kampala. Charles Ingabire had recently received repeated threats by phone as well as on his website, and was victim of an assault by unidentified men in Kampala.

This is the second occasion on which a Rwandan journalist has been killed in the last two years. In June 2010, Mr Jean-Leonard Rugambage, then editor of the private tabloid Umuvugizi, and similarly vocal in his criticism of the Rwandan authorities, was shot dead in Kigali by unknown gunmen.

Front Line condemns in the strongest terms the killing of Charles Ingabire, and believes that it is related to his legitimate work as an independent journalist. Front Line is deeply concerned for the physical and psychological integrity and security of other human rights defenders and journalists, both in Rwanda and abroad, who are involved in raising human rights concerns in Rwanda.

http://www.frontlinedefenders.org/n...