Official investigations into the murder of a Rwandan anti-corruption activist appear to have ground to a halt six months later, says a human rights group.
Gustave Makonene, co-ordinator of Transparency International Rwanda’s Advocacy and Legal Advice Centre in Rubavu, northwestern Rwanda, was last seen leaving his office in Rubavu on the evening of 17 July 2013.
Residents of Nyiraruhonga found his body the following morning just off a road along the shore of Lake Kivu. A police medical report indicates he was strangled.
As part of his work for Transparency International, Makonene had handled allegations of corruption, some of which reportedly involved members of the police.
“Corruption is a sensitive issue in Rwanda, as in many countries,” said Daniel Bekele, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “The murder of Makonene should have raised alarm bells. Instead there has been a disturbing silence.”
In the days following the discovery of Makonene’s body, local police arrested four people in connection with the murder, but they were released in August for lack of evidence. Since then, investigations by the police and the prosecutor’s office appear to have stalled.
Human Rights Watch says it learned that a man in civilian clothes, who introduced himself as an employee of the national utilities company but was later identified as a police officer, made repeated visits to the Transparency International Rwanda office attempting to identify Makonene and ascertain his movements.
On the day of Makonene’s murder, the man reportedly phoned a person close to Makonene to try to confirm his location. Police later told Human Rights Watch that the officer had been asking questions about Makonene in a personal capacity.
“The fact that Makonene may have been looking into police corruption and that a police officer was seeking to confirm his identity just before his murder raises questions, at the very least,” Bekele said.
