A Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) officer in Alberta has been charged with involvement in a foreign interference operation, according to an RCMP media release on Tuesday. Constable Eli Ndatuje is charged with breach of trust, computer misuse and breach of security safeguards under the Information Security Act.
The charges stem from an ongoing investigation by the RCMP-Federal Police Integrated National Security Enforcement Team (INSET). INSET alleges Ndatuje illegally accessed his unclassified RCMP computer system and provided information to foreign entities. If convicted, Ndatuje could face up to five years in prison for the breach of trust charge and up to one year for the unauthorized computer use charge. The security breach charge carries a maximum penalty of 14 years in prison if convicted.
Ndatuje made his first court appearance in Calgary District Court last week. RCMP declined further comment as the criminal proceedings are currently in court. But the charges represent the most serious form of espionage targeting Canada's national security.
“Elli Ndatuje's arrest may change the attitude of Canadian authorities, who do not take the threat posed by the Rwandan regime seriously.” david himbalaHe has called for an investigation by Canadian police into Rwandan harassment of him since 2019.
What is noteworthy is that this allegation directly links Ndatuje's activities to the Rwandan government. A recent 115-page report from Human Rights Watch documents the Rwandan regime's cross-border crackdown on dissidents. In his report, Human Rights Watch detailed more than a dozen cases of murders, kidnappings, attempted kidnappings, enforced disappearances, and physical assaults targeting Rwandans living abroad. The report also found that Rwandan authorities monitor and pressure foreign critics, carrying out extraterritorial killings and attempted kidnappings of opponents living abroad. The report found that Rwandans everywhere have a reasonable fear of repercussions for simply exercising their right to free speech or engaging in non-violent political opposition. I concluded.
