KIGALI, Rwanda
A Rwandan court on Wednesday acquitted three journalists who had been detained for four years for allegedly spreading fake news, in a case rights groups derided as a sham.
Courtesy |
The three journalists;
Damascene Mutuyimana, Shadrack Niyonsenga and Jean Baptiste Nshimiyima were
arrested in October 2018 during a crackdown on YouTubers critical of President
Paul Kagame's government.
The trio, who worked for Iwacu
TV a YouTube channel, were charged with inciting insurrection, spreading false
information with the intent to create a hostile international opinion of Rwanda
and of publishing fake statements and pictures.
But a three-judge court in
Kigali acquitted them of all charges, ruling that the prosecutors had failed to
provide sufficient evidence.
"What the prosecution
presented was not sufficient as evidence in the crimes that the three
defendants are accused of... they must be released," the court
ruled.
The journalists were not
present in court for the verdict.
Their lawyer Jean Paul Ibambe
told AFP he welcomed the acquittal "with happiness".
"The justice system needs
to start considering other remedies such as bail because spending four years in
jail for crimes that you did not commit is a form of injustice."
Rights campaigners also said
the victory came too late, noting that the defendants had already spent four
years in prison.
"The relief at the
acquittal of the three journalists is overshadowed by the court's failure to
stop this sham of a trial earlier," Lewis Mudge, Human Rights Watch's
Central Africa director, said Wednesday after the ruling.
"The fact a prosecution
took place at all will send a chilling message to others who dare to exercise
their right to free expression in Rwanda."
Rwanda, ruled by Kagame since
the end of the 1994 genocide which left some 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus
dead, has often come under fire for rights abuses and a crackdown on freedom of
speech, critics and the opposition.
Several people have fallen
foul of the Rwandan authorities after turning to YouTube to publish content
critical of the Kagame government.
Dieudonne Niyonsenga, better
known by his YouTube persona Cyuma ("Iron"), was sentenced to seven
years in prison last November after being found guilty of forgery and
impersonation.
His jailing came weeks after
another YouTube star, Yvonne Idamange, was jailed for 15 years for inciting
violence online.
The country is ranked 136th
out of 180 countries for press freedom by media watchdog Reporters Without
Borders. - Africa
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