Rwanda is investigating the death of nine Spaniards killed in the African country and the Democratic Republic of Congo in the late 90s.

This was communicated by the Rwandan Prosecutor-General to the Criminal Division of the National Court and the Central Court of Instruction No. 4, in charge of investigating the case and in the process of executing the judgment issued by the Supreme Court on September 24th, to lift the arrest warrants against the 40 Rwandan military officers prosecuted for crimes of terrorism, torture, and genocide, acts in which the Spaniards were killed.

Two priests, four members of the Marist Brothers and three aid workers were killed ”violently" in Rwanda and Congo between 1994 and 1997. This was acknowledged by the Criminal Division of the National Court in a decision of January 28th of this year. Twenty years after these killings, the investigation is still open in Rwanda – only one person is in prison for the death of one of the priests – while in Spain the Supreme Court decided to provisionally dismiss the sentence against the 40 military defendants, because they are neither Spanish nor present in Spain.

The Criminal Investigation Department of Rwandan has opened investigations into each of the killings, as the Rwandan prosecutor-general, Richard Muhumuza, informed the High Court last May. To date, only one person has been convicted, by the Primary Court of Gitarama, which sentenced the murderer of the priest Isidro Uzcudun to 20 years in prison.

The alleged suspects in the deaths of the other eight Spaniards are still at large. According to the document submitted by Rwanda to Spain, the Catalan priest Joaquín Valmajó i Sala was kidnapped on 26 April 1994 in Byumba "by unknown armed men”. "The priest drove his own car, accompanied by an armed soldier," as reported by the prosecutor to Fernando Andreu, the Spanish magistrate in the case. "Since that day, Father Valmajó has not been seen again.”

InterrogationsNine witnesses were questioned by the Rwandan authorities in connection with the disappearance of this priest. However, their statements have not clarified whether the kidnappers were soldiers of the Government, the Rwandan Patriotic Army, or other armed people. A witness testified that the area where the priest disappeared was controlled by ex-government soldiers and other armed groups.

As for the four Marists, the Rwandan investigation located the place of death in Bugobe near the Nyamitangwe refugee camp in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Their bodies were found on 9 November 1996 in a closed well 12 meters in depth. The investigations revealed that there were witnesses who saw a vehicle owned by the congregation with objects stolen from this community. A witness identified a member of the Interahamwe paramilitary group, created during the Rwandan civil war, with Hutu ethnic majority.

With respect to the three aid workers, they died on 18 January 1997 in the Rwandan region of Ruhengeri. They were Manuel Madrazo, Flors Sirera, and Luis Valtueña. The country's judicial police took statements from 13 witnesses who agreed that 20 armed men dressed in coats attacked the house where the Spaniards lived. One of the witnesses said that various houses belonging to foreign expatriates were also attacked the same day, which he described as "the goal” of the attackers.

"These cases are still under police investigation and remain open”, said the Rwandan prosecutor to Spanish authorities, with whom he offered to "work together” in the investigations. Spanish judicial sources confirmed to the El Mundo newspaper the change of attitude adopted by the Rwandan government in relation to the investigation of these murders. In expectation of the Spanish prosecutor’s ruling on the Supreme Court’s decision to lift the arrest warrants of 40 officers​, ​and Andreu’s execution of the judgment of the ​High ​Court, sources familiar with the investigation informed this newspaper that the prosecution cancelled the warrants.

This article was first published in Spanish by El Mundo newspaper.