Posts Tagged ‘Rwanda’
May 15th, 2012
A
Rwandan community radio presenter is
being held in pre-trial detention for “minimising” the 1994 Tutsi genocide. Habarugira Epaphrodite was arrested last month after confusing the Kinyarwanda words for “victims” and “survivors” whilst reading a news report on ceremonies to mark the 18th anniversary of the genocide on 22 April. The error made it sound as though Epaphrodite condoned the genocide. The presenter was fired from the radio station the following day, and was arrested on 24 April. He has been held in prison since his arrest.
December 5th, 2011
A
Rawandan journalist has been
shot dead at point blank range in the
Ugandan capital Kampala, where he was exiled. Charles Ingabire, editor of the Inyenyeri News website, was fatally shot twice in the chest by unidentified assailants on 1 December at around 2am outside a bar in Kampala. The journalist, who was an outspoken critic of the Rwandan government, was pronounced dead at the scene. Ingabire was exiled from Rwanda in 2007, and had been threatened previously. In an attack teo months ago his computer was stolen and he was pressured to shut down Inyenyeri.
September 1st, 2011
Fidèle Gakire, publisher of bimonthly newspaper Ishema
decided to suspend the publication for one month on 28 August because of serious threats received after printing an opinion piece calling
Rwandan president Paul Kagame a “sociopath”. While Gakire apologised to the High Media Council, the comment was deemed to be
libellous, and he was handed a six-month suspension from the Forum of Private Newspapers. The editor of the paper, Didas Niyifasha, resigned after the incident.
October 26th, 2010
Opposition leader
Victoire Ingabire has been
accused of working with a terrorist group. Following her arrest last month, prosecutors now say they have evidence that she colluded with a former officer of a Hutu militia in a manner that threatened national security. If she is found guilty on all charges, including spreading “genocide ideology”, she could receive a life sentence. Upon
her return to Rwanda in February, she called for Hutus victims of the genocide to be remembered in the same way as Tutsis. Appealing to ethnic identity in such a manner is illegal.
August 12th, 2010
Following Rwanda’s election-related crackdown on the independent media, the UK is finally starting to wise up, says Lars Waldorf
(more…)
June 29th, 2010
Jean Leonard Rugambage, the acting editor of independent newspaper
Umuvugizi, was
shot dead outside his home in Kigali on 24 June. Local authorities recently
suspended the paper but it continued to publish online. Exiled chief editor Jean Bosco Gasasira, blames the government for the killing because of an article Umuvugizi published last weekend accusing the Rwandan security forces of murdering the former army General Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa. Today (29 June) Rwandan police announced that
they had arrested two men suspected of involvement in the killing.
April 26th, 2010
Victoire Ingabire, who plans to stand in August’s presidential elections, was conditionally released from jail on Thursday. She faces charges of
genocide ideology, divisionism and collaborating with a rebel group. Ingabire must now
report to authorities twice a month and is not allowed to leave the capital city of Kigali. The travel conditions will impede her election campaign, Ingabire has previously been interrogated by investigators on suspicion of invoking ethnic divisions, though she claimed last month that she was being harassed for challenging the government.
April 15th, 2010
Rwanda’s Media High Council(MHC) has
suspended two independent newspapers just months before a presidential election. The press body has suspended publication of Umuseso and Umuvugizi for six months on charges of inciting the police and creating fear among the public. The Kinyarwanda-based weekly tabloid violated article 83 of Rwanda’s media law, according to chairman of the MHC Arthur Asiimwe. Human Rights Watch claimed earlier this year that
opposition activists are facing increasing threats as the next presidential election approaches in August.
