15 May 12 | Africa, Index Index, minipost
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.
05 Dec 11 | Africa, Index Index, minipost
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.
01 Sep 11 | Index Index, minipost
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.
26 Oct 10 | Index Index, minipost
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.
