10 years to Rilwan's murder: NGOs call to suspend accused, audit commission
Noting that the commission had been assigned 27 cases to investigate, the statement said that none of the cases had made it to convictions.
Expressing concern over some of those accused in the Rilwan abduction case being given top posts in the present government, Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO) on Thursday urged the government to suspend them. It also called on the state to conduct an audit of a previous presidential commission on deaths set up by the previous government to look into such deaths.
Twelve major international rights organisations and Maldivian organisations issued a press release on Thursday marking the 10th anniversary of the disappearance of Rilwan on August 8, 2014.
In the statement, Rilwan’s family expressed concern that no official information on Rilwan's disappearance and "alleged murder" has been given to them for the past 10 years and that the family is still waiting for it. According to the statement:
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The two accused in the Rilwan case have not been convicted after trials that lasted from September 2017 to August 2018; the judge who heard the case at the time noted negligence in the investigation and prosecution
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In November 2018, President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih came to power promising to bring justice to the case; the commission was abolished five years later and nothing was done in the meantime to fulfil that promise
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Three people arrested and charged in connection with the commission's investigation have been dismissed by the Criminal Court for lack of evidence; the Prosecutor General's Office has not appealed the decision
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The commission declined to disclose its findings
“While the government of [incumbent] President [Mohamed] Muizzu has promised to release the reports of the DDCOM [Commission on Deaths and Disappearances], this government has also given senior positions to those accused by the commission in the Rilwan disappearance case,” the statement said.
"We call on President Muizzu to publish the DDCOM reports immediately and suspend those accused of enforced disappearance of Rilwan from political positions."
Noting that the commission had been assigned 27 cases to investigate, the statement said that none of the cases had made it to convictions. Therefore, the NGOs called on the parliament to conduct an audit of its work. They urged the audit to include:
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The reasons why the accused were not convicted in the 27 cases
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Reasons for refusing to provide investigation reports to families
The statement, which is participated by the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and Human Rights Watch (HRW), also made a demand to the Maldivian Human Rights Commission (HRCM). It is to conduct a public inquiry into the disappearance of Rilwan, the human rights violations of his family and the human rights violations that occurred in Maldives after August 8, 2014.
The commission in a press conference revealed that Rilwan was kidnapped and killed by a group.
