Rwanda: Wanahabari watatu waachiliwa huru baada ya kuzuiliwa jela kwa miaka minne

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Mahakama moja nchini Rwanda Jumatano imewaachilia huru waandishi wa habari watatu ambao walikuwa wanazuiliwa jela kwa miaka minne kwa madai ya kueneza habari za uongo, kesi ambayo ilitajwa na makundi ya kutetea haki za binadamu kama uzushi.

Wanahabari hao watatu, Damascene Mutuyimana, Shadrack Niyonsenga na Jean Baptiste Nshimiyimana, walikamatwa mwezi Oktoba mwaka 2018 wakati wa msako mkali dhidi ya wakosoaji wa serikali ya Rais Paul Kagame wanaotumia mtandao wa Youtube.

Watatu hao walikuwa wanafanya kazi kwenye televisheni ya Iwacu inayopitisha matangazo yake kwa Youtube, na walishtakiwa kwa kuchochea uasi, kusambaza habari za uongo kwa nia ya kujenga hisia ya kimataifa ya uadui dhidi ya Rwanda na kuchapisha taarifa na picha za uongo.

Lakini mahakama ya mjini Kigali ya majaji watatu iliwafutia mashtaka yote, na kuamua kuwa waendesha mashtaka walishindwa kutoa ushahidi wa kutosha.

“Upande wa mashtaka ushahidi uliowasilisha haukutosha kwa uhalifu ambao washtakiwa hao watatu wanatuhumiwa. Lazima waachiliwe,” mahakama iliamua.

Wanahabari hao hawakuwepo mahakamani wakati wa uamuzi huo.

Wakili wao Jean Paul Ibambe ameiambia AFP kwamba amepokea kwa furaha kuachiliwa kwao.
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Rwandan court acquits, releases 3 Iwacu TV journalists
In response to the acquittal and release on Wednesday of three journalists for YouTube-based Iwacu TV who have been detained in Rwanda since October 2018, the Committee to Protect Journalists issued the following statement expressing relief:

“We are greatly relieved that the court has recognized the charges against Damascene Mutuyimana, Shadrack Niyonsenga, and Jean Baptiste Nshimiyimana as baseless. Finally, these journalists can go home to their families,” said CPJ’s sub-Saharan Africa representative, Muthoki Mumo. “However, the four years that these journalists lost behind bars are a great injustice, underscoring the willingness of Rwandan authorities to abuse judicial systems to the detriment of the press. A repeat of such injustice should not be allowed, and all those other journalists who remain behind bars in Rwanda for their work should be released without delay.”

On Wednesday, October 5, a court in Kigali, Rwanda’s capital, acquitted the three journalists of charges of spreading false information with the intention of creating a hostile international opinion of Rwanda, publishing unoriginal statements or pictures, and inciting insurrection, according to reports by BBC News Gahuza and Reuters.

One of their lawyers, Jean Paul Ibambe, confirmed to CPJ that the journalists were released from Nyarugenge Prison in Kigali on Wednesday evening, following the acquittal.

The journalists were held in pre-trial detention until their trial started in August 2021. Earlier this year, prosecutors requested that they be sentenced to 22 years and five months in prison.

At least four other journalists, most of them YouTube-based, remain detained in Rwanda.

Source: cpj.org