By David Himbara
Kizito Mihigo continues to receive considerable coverage in global news. The BBC published another report on Mihigo, who died in Rwandan police custody last month. According to the report, Mihigo tried to escape to Europe. Clément Boursin from Action by Christians for the Abolition of Torture (ACAT) confirmed this to the BBC. Boursin revealed that Mihigo contacted ACAT in September 2019 in his desperate attempts to escape Rwanda and ask for asylum in Europe. The problem was that Mihigo did not have a passport. Boursin added that “On our side, we enquired with our contacts in Rwanda who told us that it was too dangerous for Kizito Mihigo to undertake this move as he was under strong surveillance of the Rwandan authorities. We told him to wait.” The rest, of course, is history. Mihigo lost his life on February 17, 2020. Like many voices, ACAT has rightly called for an independent investigation commission into Mihigo’s death. This further evidence of how this extraordinary young man touched so many in different parts of the world.
