Rwandan opposition leader Victoire Ingabire, musician Kizito Mihigo and 2,138 others were released in a surprise move on Saturday, following a cabinet meeting on Friday when a presidential "mercy" order was approved. Both Ingabire and Mihigo had made requests for clemency in June.

"I thank the president who gave me this liberation," Ingabire said as she left Mageragere Prison in Kigali. "This is the beginning of the opening of political space in Rwanda, I hope so."

Ingabire called on President Paul Kagame: "To release other political prisoners." Hundreds more are believed to be behind bars, including Diane Rwigara whose attempt to stand in last year's elections was thwarted over allegations she forged signatures on her nomination papers. She was then charged with inciting insurrection against the state.

Parliamentary elections were held on September 2 and final results are expected on Sunday.

Long sentences

The opposition, ethnic Hutu leader, Ingabire has been in jail since 2010 when she returned from exile in the Netherlands to run for president.

Instead she was arrested and charged with terrorism and treason. She was given a ten year sentence for "genocide ideology" and "divisionism" after she raised questions over the 1994 genocide of mostly Tutsi people which left 800,000 people dead.

Mihigo was arrested in 2015 and jailed for 10 years on charges of conspiracy to murder the president.

Kagame's rebel army brought the genocide in 1994 under control. Since taking power he has changed the constitution, allowing him to retain power until 2034.

100 days of slaughter: Rwanda's genocide A signal to extremists On April 6, 1994, unidentified attackers shot down a plane carrying Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana as it was about to land at Kigali airport. President Habyarimana, his Burundian counterpart and eight other passengers died in the crash. The next day organized killings began. Massacres continued over the course of three months, and at least 800,000 Rwandans lost their lives.

100 days of slaughter: Rwanda's genocide Targeted killings After the assassination of the president, Hutu extremists attacked the Tutsi minority and Hutus who stood in their way. The murderers were well prepared and targeted human rights activists, journalists and politicians. One of the first victims on April 7 was Prime Minister Agathe Uwiringiymana.

100 days of slaughter: Rwanda's genocide Foreign nationals rescued While thousands of Rwandans were being killed every day, Belgian and French special forces evacuated about 3,500 foreigners. On April 13, Belgian paratroopers rescued seven German employees and their families from Deutsche Welle's relay transmitting station in Kigali. Only 80 of 120 local staff members survived the genocide.

100 days of slaughter: Rwanda's genocide Appeals for help As early as January 1994, UNAMIR commander Romeo Dallaire wanted to act on information he had received about an "anti-Tutsi extermination" plot. The warning he sent to the UN on January 11, later known as the "genocide fax", went unheard. And his desperate appeals after the genocide began were rejected by Kofi Annan, who was Under Secretary General for Peacekeeping Operations at the time.

100 days of slaughter: Rwanda's genocide Hate media The Mille Collines radio station (RTLM) and Kangura, a weekly magazine, stoked ethnic hatred. In 1990 Kangura published the racist "Hutu Ten Commandments." Mille Collines radio, which was popular for its pop music and sports programs, fuelled the genocide by urging Hutu civilians to hunt down and kill Tutsis. Director Milo Rau devoted his film "Hate Radio" to these appalling broadcasts (photo).

100 days of slaughter: Rwanda's genocide Refuge in a hotel In Kigali, Paul Rusesabagina hid over 1,000 people in the Hotel Des Mille Collines. Rusesabagina had taken over the position of the hotel's Belgian manager, who left the country. With a great deal of alcohol and money, he managed to prevent Hutu militias from killing the refugees. In many other places where people sought refuge, they were not able to escape the slaughter.

100 days of slaughter: Rwanda's genocide Massacres in churches Churches were no longer sanctuaries. About 4,000 men, women and children were murdered with axes, knives and machetes in the church of Ntarama near Kigali. Today the church is one of the country's many genocide memorials. Rows of skulls, human bones as well as bullet marks in the walls are a reminder of what happened there.

100 days of slaughter: Rwanda's genocide France's role The French government maintained close ties to the Hutu regime. When the French army intervened in June, it enabled soldiers and militiamen responsible for the genocide to flee to Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of Congo, and take their weapons with them. They still pose a threat to Rwanda today.

100 days of slaughter: Rwanda's genocide Streams of refugees During the genocide, millions of Rwandan Tutsis and Hutus fled to Tanzania, Zaire and Uganda. Two million of them went to Zaire alone. They included former members of the army and perpetrators of the genocide, who soon founded the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), a militia that is still terrorizing the population in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo today.

100 days of slaughter: Rwanda's genocide Capture of the capital On July 4, 1994, rebels from the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) patrolled the area around the Church of the Holy Family in Kigali. By that time they had liberated most of the country and routed the perpetrators of the genocide. However, human rights activists also accused the rebels of committing crimes, for which no one has been held accountable to this day.

100 days of slaughter: Rwanda's genocide End of the genocide On July 18, 1994, the RPF's leader, Major General Paul Kagame, declared that the war against the government troops was over. The rebels were in control of the capital and other important towns. Initially, they installed a provisional government. Paul Kagame became Rwanda's president in the year 2000.

100 days of slaughter: Rwanda's genocide Lasting scars The genocide went on for almost three months. The victims were often slaughtered with machetes. Neighbors killed neighbors. Not even babies and elderly people were spared, and the streets were strewn with corpses and body parts. It's not only the physical scars on the bodies of the survivors that remind Rwandans of the genocide. There is also a deep trauma. Author: Andrea Schmidt / gu



jm/mm (Reuters, AFP)

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