World Bulletin / News Desk

The soldiers came at dawn to Fulgence Rukundo's house in a village in western Rwanda, and accused him of stealing a cow.

An investigation by the rights group alleges that Rwandan security forces executed at least 37 suspected petty offenders, including Rukundo, instead of prosecuting them. Another four have allegedly disappeared.

Rwanda's Justice Minister Johnston Busingye slammed the report as "clearly fake", saying HRW had been "duped".

"Rwanda will continue to tell her own story, as befits Rwandans," he wrote on his Twitter account.

According to HRW, the wave of documented extrajudicial killings took place between July 2016 and March 2017 in western Rwanda and appeared to be part of an official strategy to "spread fear, enforce order and deter any resistance to government orders or policies."