FNL leaders publicly denounced the letter in a joint television appearance, and few observers of the peace process appeared to take the letter very seriously. But on January 31 FNL combatants abducted Jean Baptiste Nsabimana, a civilian JPH member from Buterere who had publicly questioned the name change. FNL combatants, under the direction of FNL commander Antoine Bariyanka (known as “Shoot” or “Shuti”), forced him into a Prado Land Cruiser, one of 40 vehicles provided by the South African-led facilitation for the use of the FNL during the peace negotiations. A South African peacekeeper was in the vehicle and observed the abduction. Nsabimana was taken to the Rukoko forest, interrogated about his possible role in what the FNL saw as an attempted internal coup, and tortured.[164] When contacted by a Human Rights Watch researcher several hours after the abduction, FNL spokesperson Pasteur Habimana denied knowledge of the incident, but assured the researcher that if combatants in the Rukoko had in fact taken hostages, he would ensure that they were not ill-treated.[165] Nsabimana was released a week later.