Pictured H.E. Jean Pierre Karabaranga, Ambassador of the Republic of Rwanda to the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
Lawyer Caroline Buisman trivializes the 1994 Genocide against Tutsis commemorations.
Monday 06 June 2016, will be recorded in history as another sad and bitter date for Rwandan survivors of the 1994 Genocide against Tutsis, in particular those living in the Netherlands. On this date, at The Hague District Court, in the extradition case “Dutch State Prosecution vs Jean Claude Iyamuremye and Jean Baptiste Mugimba, indicted suspects on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity”, Lawyer Caroline Buisman, mocked the commemoration of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsis in Rwanda calling it a ‘political manipulation’.
The Dutch Prosecution filed a case against the accused, requesting the Netherlands to extradite both suspects to Rwanda for their alleged role in the 1994 Genocide against Tutsis.
It must be recalled that during the Genocide, the accused, Jean Baptiste Mugimba was the Secretary General of CDR, the extremist political party, which was at the forefront of the assassinations, killings and extermination of Tutsis in Rwanda. According to the indictment, Mr. Mugimba is alleged to have distributed arms in Nyakabanda Cell and he incited militias to exterminate Tutsis.
On the other hand Jean Claude Iyamuremye a.k.a. Nzinga is accused of having taken part with the infamous genocidaire militias Interahwamwe, in the mass killings of more than 3,000 Tutsis who had sought refuge at Ecole Technique Officielle (E.T.O. Kicukiro) during the 1994 genocide against the Tutsis .
In her statement, willfully, Ms. Caroline Buisman, legal counsel of the 2 accused genocide fugitives, while at The Hague District Court during the hearing of the case, stated that “Government of Rwanda uses 1994 Genocide against Tutsis commemorations for its political agenda and is a manipulation”.
The Government and People of Rwanda are dismayed to hear a lawyer calling commemorations and remembrance events of the victims of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi a manipulation by Government.
Ms. Caroline Buisman’s statement doesn’t only anger and offend survivors of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsis living in the Netherlands but is also an insult to the people of Netherlands who have stood firmly with the Government and People of Rwanda, genocide survivors, the UN and with the international community during past commemorations events worldwide.
In particular Ms. Caroline Buisman’s statement is an insult to the people of The Netherlands who have vowed never to make the Netherlands a safe haven for suspects or perpetrators of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsis and other crimes against humanity.
Ms. Caroline Buisman as a lawyer is well aware of the fact that the ICTR Trial Chamber concluded, on 2nd September 1998, that “genocide was, indeed, committed in Rwanda against the Tutsi as a group” and that the Appeal Chamber confirmed, on 16th June 2006, that it is a “fact of common knowledge” that “there was a genocide in Rwanda against the Tutsi ethnic group”. This should at least serve as a basis for all of us to desist any attempt to deny or trivialize facts of genocide, as well as to minimize its scale.
Furthermore, Ms. Caroline as a lawyer is well aware that on 23rd December 2003, UN General Assembly adopted resolution A/RES/58/234 designating the 7th April every year as the International Day of Reflection on the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsis in Rwanda. In addition, the United Nations Security Council in April 2014, unanimously Adopted Resolution 2150 (2014), in which, The Security Council resolution confirmed that, the 1994 genocide in Rwanda will be referred to globally as the Genocide against the Tutsi (http://www.un.org/press/en/2014/sc11356.doc.htm) and the Security Council Called for Recommitment to Fight against Genocide.
This resolution condemns without any reservation any denial of the Genocide against the Tutsis and calls upon states to investigate arrest, prosecute or extradite and end impunity for those individuals accused of genocide crimes who may be currently residing in their territories.
With all those precedents on commemoration of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsis of Rwanda, it is absurd for Ms. Caroline to state that commemorations events of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsis by the Government and People of Rwanda and by the Embassy of Rwanda in The Kingdom of The Netherlands is a manipulation and that it is done for political gains.
It is our belief that Ms. Caroline Buisman used the platform as an attack on the Government, the people and Embassy of The Republic of Rwanda for her own interests.
The Embassy of The Republic of Rwanda in The Kingdom of The Netherlands strongly condemns Ms. Caroline Buisman’s statement which is trivializing the pain and suffering of our victims including the survivors of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsis in Rwanda. Ms. Caroline Buisman’s remarks in court should not be looked at as a professional mistake, but rather it was a planned attack against the Government and the people of Rwanda.
The Embassy of The Republic of Rwanda in The Netherlands believes that such malicious behavior and statements trivializing commemorations of the 1994 Genocide against Tutsis, one the darkest chapters of human history, should not only be condemned by the Government and the People of Rwanda, but also by the international community.
Embassy of the Republic of Rwanda
The Hague
