Richard Lautens / Toronto Star Order
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A
Toronto-area lawyer who defended a Rwandan general in a 14-year war crimes
tribunal claims the Rwandan government is threatening him with death.
Christopher Black, a well-known
international criminal lawyer, says CSIS warned him last July that he was on a
hit list compiled by the Rwandan Patriotic Front, the political party that now
governs Rwanda.
By: Debra Black Immigration Reporter, Robert Cribb Foreign, Published on Sat Apr 11 2015
A Toronto-area lawyer who defended a
Rwandan general in a 14-year war crimes tribunal claims the Rwandan government
is threatening him with death.
Christopher Black say a member of the Rwandan
National Congress in Canada told him last month there is “credible and reliable
information” that the Rwandan regime has “sent a team to Canada in order to
assassinate five people here,” including Black, who wrote a sworn affidavit
provided to the Star.
Black says he received a similarmessage
last July from two Canadian Security Intelligence Service officers he met with
at Richmond Hill café.
“(A CSIS officer) informed me that
CSIS was concerned for my safety as they had information that the Rwandan
government wanted to kill me and they were further concerned that the Rwandan
government would try something against me inside Canada,” reads the affidavit,
which he swore before a Richmond Hill lawyer last month.
Black says the CSIS agents showed
him a “hit list” of about 100 people who are targets of the Rwandan government.
His name was 23rd on the list.
David Himbara, Toronto political
economist, blogger and former principal secretary to the Rwandan president.
The Star has not viewed the list and
cannot verify its contents or that it exists. Candian authorities are not
speaking openly about the alleged threats.
Black wrote a letter to Public
Safety Minister Steven Blaney asking him to take the threat seriously. A
spokesman for the Blaney’s office acknowledged receipt of Black’s letter and
said Public Safety Canada “is currently reviewing it.”
Black says on the advice of CSIS
agents he contacted York Regional Police and filed a complaint about a week
ago. He says he was interviewed on videotape by an officer Monday night. A York
Regional Police spokesperson that the force does not comment on open
investigations.
“We investigate all complaints
brought to our attention,” he added.
Neither CSIS nor the Rwandan High
Commission responded to interview requests.
In a November interview with the
Star, the commission’s chargé d’affaires Shakilla K. Umutoni dismissed
allegations about threats against David Himbara, another Canadian who also says
he has been warned he is a target of the Rwandan regime.
“I really don’t think I’ll take my
time to discuss that,” Umutoni told the Star. “And I don’t think you should
allow that in your newspaper, you know. These are like gossips, without any
kind of support or documents.”
A 2014 Human Rights Watch report on
Rwandan government threats against critics concluded, “The Rwandan government
has consistently denied any involvement in attacks and threats against its
political opponents and critics, and reacted with indignation to allegations
that these attacks may have been ordered or facilitated from Kigali.”
The HRW report urges international
governments to “carry out thorough investigations into attacks and threats
against Rwandan government opponents and critics on their territory, in order
to bring those responsible to justice.”
Last year, Rwandan President Paul Kagame — who is seen as successfully
rebuilding his nation’s economy but has failed to protect human rights or
democracy — said dissidents plotting against his government would “pay the
price wherever they are,” according to various media reports.
Black says he has received previous
threats but he is “very worried” now.
“I don’t know what to do frankly,”
he told the Star. “This bothers me. I don’t know when they would act or if they
would act or how. I have to start thinking about my security. I haven’t been
feeling very secure since July.”
He spends many sleepless nights,
wondering if the 14 years he spent defending Gen. Augustin Ndindiliyimana at
the war crimes tribunal in Arusha, Tanzania, were worth it. Ndindiliyimana was
acquitted of all charges.
Black believes his vocal criticism
of Kagame’s regime and his defence of Ndindiliyimana at the war crimes tribunal
have triggered potentially deadly resentment.
Black is a controversial figure who
holds strong views that challenge accepted wisdom on war crimes. He has argued
the innocence of accused war criminal Slobodan Milosevic and attacked former
international prosecutor Canadian Louise Arbour for halting an inquiry into the
downing of the plane that killed the presidents of Rwanda and Burundi in 1994 —
the incident that triggered the genocide.
His view of the genocide is far from
the accepted narrative. He alleges that the Tutsi-led Rwandan Patriotic Front
and Kagame, then military leader, are also responsible for mass killings of
political and military opponents during the genocide.
During the Ndindiliyimana trial, he
cross-examined many powerful figures in the Rwandan government, including
military officers, intellectuals, ambassadors, journalists, politicians and
“other high personages,” reads his affidavit.
“As a result of my work as defence
counsel, I have received a number of public attacks against me by the Rwandan
regime,” he wrote in his affidavit.
In 2004, during the early days of
the trial, he says he was told by a Rwandan government official that if he
continued with his work, “I would not have long to live,” reads the affidavit.
Since then, Rwandan officials have
issued statements declaring Black an “enemy of the state,” the statement reads.
“I telephoned (a CSIS agent) on the
16th of March and informed her of the new threat,” Black’s affidavit says.
“(The agent) replied, after a short discussion that they were aware of the
threat and conveyed to me the sense that they were reacting, but did not give
me any specifics.”
The CSIS agent did not respond to
the Star’s calls and emails.
Black has heard from other sources
that “Canada has warned Rwanda about these threats and has refused visas to a
number of Rwandans on the grounds they may be coming to Canada for improper
reasons.”
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