Those responsible include soldiers, gendarmes, and sometimes civilians in the presence of members of the security forces. Scores of deaths in detention as a result of deliberate ill-treatment have been reported during 1997. In addition, hundreds of detainees are reported to have died in custody as a result of serious overcrowding and lack of basic hygiene and medical facilities. Most prisons and detention centres in Rwanda are filled to several times their capacity and in many cases the conditions amount to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. In some cases, detainees appear to have been deliberately deprived of medical treatment.
Detainees also suffer from a grossly inadequate supply of food.
Those in the cachots are entirely dependent on their relatives to bring them food. In many cases, however, their families barely have enough to feed themselves. For more information about this case, contact the AI section in your country. For more information about this country, see following documents.