Johannesburg (AP) — Rwandan opposition leaders, believed to have been arrested in Mozambique last month, should be immediately prosecuted or released in court, Human Rights Watch said Tuesday.

Rwandan radio journalist Cassien Ntamuhanga, who was convicted and imprisoned for a conspiracy against the government, escaped from Rwandan prison in 2018 and sought asylum in Mozambique. According to human rights groups, his application was still in process when he was detained on May 23.

Ntamuhanga was taken to a local police station by seven men who presented identification cards from the National Criminal Investigation Bureau in Mozambique, the rights group quoted four witnesses. Police officers told the neighbor who took Ntamuhanga to the station to leave.

According to Human Rights Watch, Ntamhanga was arrested on Inhaca Island in Maputo Bay and then boated to the mainland, chained and handcuffed.

Police in Mozambique subsequently denied knowledge of Namtanga’s arrest, stating that he was not detained by them.

One of the men detained in Ntamhanga spoke in Kinyarwanda, according to a statement released by the Rwandan Refugee Association in Mozambique.

Long-time critic of Rwandan President Paul Kagame, Ntamhanga was sentenced to 25 years in prison in 2015 for plotting against the Rwandan government. Reporters Without Borders of the Freedom of the Press group said at the time, “The severely disproportionate ruling is the authoritarian nature of President Kagame’s government and the growing desire to express all opposition to the 2017 presidential elections. It reflects. “

Ntamahunga was convicted with singer and activist Kizito Mihigo. Kizito Mihigo was pardoned in 2018, but was re-arrested in February 2020 in an attempt to flee the country and died four days later in police detention.

“The previous conviction of Ntamhanga, the fate of Mihigo, and Rwanda’s track record of ruthlessly targeting critics and opponents around the world are reasons for serious concern about Ntamhanga’s safety,” said Human Rights Watch. Said on Tuesday.

“Mozambique authorities have publicly disclosed his whereabouts, allowed access to lawyers and visits relatives, and immediately brought to court if prosecuted,” said Luis Mudge, director of Central Africa at Human Rights Watch. You should take it with you. “

According to a national network of human rights defenders in Mozambique, Ntamhanga is not the first Rwandan asylum seeker in Maputo. In October 2012, Theogene Turatsinze, a former director of the Rwandan Development Bank, was found dead there, but his death has not yet been resolved. His body was found floating in the bay of the capital, with his hands tied behind him, after being reported missing for two days, according to a report by the Human Rights Network this month.

In another case, former Rwanda intelligence director Patrick Calegaya was found dead in a hotel in South Africa in 2014.

After his death, South Africa expelled two diplomats. Among them is Claude Nikobisantswe, who is currently the High Commissioner of Rwanda in Mozambique.

President Filipe Nyusi of Mozambique suddenly visited Kigali Kagame at the end of April, and the two attended a summit meeting of African leaders in Paris earlier this month in May. Recently, French President Emmanuel Macron visited Kigali.

Rwandan media suggests that Rwanda may send a military delegation to help French oil and gas company Total protect a large-scale liquefied natural gas project in northern Mozambique. All work on the $ 20 billion gas project was suspended following an attack by Islamic extremist rebels in Mozambique against the nearby town of Parma.

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Bowker contributed from Belgrade, Serbia