(RSF/IFEX) – Jean-Léonard Rugambage of the Kigali-based independent fortnightly “Umuco” was freed on 28 July 2006 after a ‘gacaca’ popular tribunal finally recognised on appeal that the warrant for his arrest issued on 7 September 2005 was fraudulent and that his detention was therefore arbitrary, Rugambage has told Reporters Without Borders. His release came two […]
(RSF/IFEX) – Jean-Léonard Rugambage of the Kigali-based independent fortnightly “Umuco” was freed on 28 July 2006 after a ‘gacaca’ popular tribunal finally recognised on appeal that the warrant for his arrest issued on 7 September 2005 was fraudulent and that his detention was therefore arbitrary, Rugambage has told Reporters Without Borders.
His release came two days after the gacaca appeal court overturned his conviction on a charge of a contempt of court, for which he had already served eight months of a one-year prison sentence. In all, Rugambage spent 11 months in detention.
Speaking in Kigali, Rugambage said: “I am grateful to all the organisations, including Reporters Without Borders, that campaigned for the truth to finally emerge, and to the national agency of gacaca courts that enabled my case to advance.”
He also hailed “the efforts of the government, as part of national reconciliation, to make the population more aware of the role of the gacaca courts, which are often seen as means for settling scores.”
Reporters Without Borders said it hailed the end of the political and legal harassment of Rugambage, in which he was kept in prison by the use of legal procedures that the Rwandan judicial authorities themselves now recognise as arbitrary.
Still pending against him is a charge of murder, described as genocide. After two hearings on 7 and 14 June, the gacaca said it was not qualified to hear this charge. Although he could still in theory be tried by an ordinary court, the executive secretary of the gacaca courts, Domitille Mukantaganzwa, told him his case would be closed. Now that he has been released, further proceedings seem very unlikely.
Rugambage plans to resume working soon as “Umuco”‘s editor.
