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by Theobald Mutarambirwa,
Secretary General of PS IMBERAKURI.

PRESS RELEASE No. 017/P.S. IMB/010

Following the acts of torture that continue to be inflicted on the president of Social Party PS IMBERAKURI, Me. Bernard NTAGANDA, including detention in solitary confinement in a hole without light and the prohibition on receiving his food ratio from his family and friends. It is now come to light that the Kigali government has a plan of killing him by starvation, torture and despair.

The Social Party PS IMBERAKURI would like to bring to the attention of the Rwandan people in general, friends of Rwanda, diplomats accredited in Kigali and Imberakuri in particular, the following:

1.- Since October 4, 2010, Me Bernard NTAGANDA is on a hunger strike as a mean to denounce torture, inhuman and degrading treatment he is being subject to, including repeated detention in solitary confinement in a cell without light, the numerous cruel beatings, forced sleep in a place detrimental to his poor health, simulations of drowning and the prohibition to receive food from his family and friends.

2.- Since July 9, 2010, the first day of his detention in the central prison in Kigali (1930), Me. Bernard NTAGANDA� has continued to be subjected to inhuman and degrading treatment, including acts of physical torture. They include the prohibition on receiving his food ratio from his family or members of his party but rather forced to eat in a restaurant within the prison called “Nyirangarama, the requirement to sleep in unventilated hole, with excessive heat and without light, repeated incarcerations in solitary confinement in the dungeons of the prison, or the repeated sessions of torture such as that one on October 1, 2010 during which he was beaten and then placed in a water tank, causing paralysis of his legs and feet.

3.- All these acts of torture are well known to the authorities of the Kigali central prison, the Commissioner General of Prisons and the Minister of Security, but nobody has demonstrated a willingness to put them to an end.

4.- The Social Party PS IMBERAKURI is deeply saddened by the fact that all these inhuman treatments are particularly inflicted to Me Bernard NTAGANDA in a pre-conceived plan by the authorities to assassinate him and then blame his death to potential natural causes.

5.- The Social Party PS IMBERAKURI is deeply alarmed by Me Bernard NTAGANDA health that now has spent several days without food, surviving only with a very limited amount of water. An appeal is made to the organizations of human rights, diplomats accredited to Kigali to come to the rescue of Me. Bernard NTAGANDA whose life is in imminent danger, otherwise they will be accused of complicity with the government of Kigali in his assassination.

The Social Party PS IMBERAKURI continues to be alarmed by the fate of other detained members of the party or not, politicians and other prisoners who are tortured every day in their cells. It is worth recalling that many prisoners continue to be abused and many die due to these inhumane acts including the consumption of the porridge based on flour mixed with sand and other sharp objects that irreversibly damage the digestive system. Even those who manage to complete their sentences die soon after their release.

BY DOING SO, YOU WILL BE TRUE IMBERAKURI.

Done in Kigali, October 10, 2010

Party Secretary General PS IMBERAKURI
Theobald Mutarambirwa(Signed)
Party Secretary General PS IMBERAKURI
NYAMIRAMBO � NYARUGENGE
KIGALI-RWANDA