Rwanda

(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has voiced shock and dismay that one of Rwanda’s people’s courts (known as gacaca) has classified Father Guy Theunis, a Belgian missionary and former editor of the Rwandan magazine “Dialogue”, as a “category-one” genocide suspect and ordered him held in Kigali prison pending trial by an ordinary court. Father Theunis, aged 60, […]

(CPJ/IFEX) – The following is a 22 March 2005 CPJ press release: RWANDA: Editor’s conviction upheld, sentence toughened New York, March 22, 2005 – A Rwandan appeals court today stiffened the sentence against a newspaper editor as it upheld his conviction on charges that he defamed the deputy speaker of parliament in a 2004 article. […]

(CPJ/IFEX) – The following is a 23 November 2004 CPJ press release: RWANDA: Editor acquitted of “divisionism,” convicted of defamation New York, November 23, 2004 – The editor of Umuseso, Rwanda’s only independent newspaper, was acquitted today on a criminal charge of ethnic “divisionism,” but convicted of defamation for a story that raised questions about […]

(CPJ/IFEX) – The following is a CPJ press release: RWANDA: Independent newspaper editor tried on criminal charges New York, November 16, 2004 – The editor of Umuseso, a Rwandan language independent weekly, was tried today on criminal charges of defamation and “divisionism” in connection with an article that accused parliamentary Vice President Denis Polisi of […]

(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has urged the authorities to free Radio Rwanda journalist Dominique Makeli, who has been held for 10 years in various Rwandan jails without ever appearing in court. Arrested on 18 September 1994, Makeli is currently being held in Kigali central prison. “We have been voicing our concern about Makeli’s fate for the […]

(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has voiced renewed concern over the declining press freedom situation in Rwanda, where journalists who are critical of the government are often harassed. The independent weekly “Umuseso”, the target of arrests and confiscations in the past, is now threatened with temporary closure. Moreover, one of its reporters has had to flee the […]

(JED/IFEX) – Cesar Balume Wetemwami, a photographer and president of the Goma-based North Kivu Photographers Association (Association des photographes du Nord Kivu, APHONOKI), was released on 18 July 2004, at around 4:00 p.m. (local time), from the Goma customs office’s detention centre, where he had been held since 16 July. Goma is the main city […]

(JED/IFEX) – On 5 July 2004, at around 3:00 p.m. (local time), Cesar Balume Wetemwami, a photojournalist and president of the North Kivu Photographers Association (Association des photographes du Nord Kivu, APHONOKI) in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, was arrested by Rwandan military security agents in the Rwandan city of Gisenyi, which lies on the […]

(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has welcomed the life sentences passed against Ferdinand Nahimana, a founder of Radio-Télévision Libre des Mille Collines (RTLM), and Hassan Ngeze, former editor of “Kangura” magazine. The International Criminal Tribunal of Rwanda (ICTR), based in Arusha, Tanzania, announced the sentences on 3 December 2003. The two journalists were convicted for their role […]

(CPJ/IFEX) – The following is a CPJ press release: RWANDA: CPJ concerned about detention of journalists and seizure of newspaper New York, November 21, 2003-The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is concerned about the two-day detention of six journalists from the independent Rwandan newspaper Umuseso and the confiscation of the latest edition of the weekly. […]

(RSF/IFEX) – Robert Sebufilira, publication director of the independent weekly “Umuseso”, was arrested on 19 November 2003, close to the Ugandan border. The journalist had travelled to the area to pick up 4,000 copies of his weekly’s most recent issue. “Umuseso” is published in Uganda, where printing costs are cheaper. Sebufilira was immediately transferred to […]

(RSF/IFEX) – With the presidential election in Rwanda just one week away, RSF has called on each of the four candidates to make a personal commitment to respect press freedom. “We urge you to take a public stand on this issue and to recommend concrete measures to promote press freedom,” the organisation said to each […]

(RSF/IFEX) – On 23 April 2003, RSF protested the seizure of the weekly “Indorerwamo”‘s (“The Mirror”) first issue and called on Internal Security Minister Jean de Dieu Ntiruhungwa to return the seized copies of the newspaper immediately. “This prior censorship demonstrates that press freedom is not guaranteed in Rwanda,” said Robert Ménard, the organisation’s secretary-general, […]

(RSF/IFEX) – On 27 February 2003, Ismaël Mbonigaba, editor of the newspaper “Umuseso”, was released temporarily. He had been incarcerated at Kigali’s central prison for over one month. RSF has asked the authorities to return the reporter’s passport to him and allow him to travel freely outside the Kigali area. That same day, Public Prosecutor […]

(RSF/IFEX) – On 25 February 2003, RSF protested the detention of Ismael Mbonigaba, editor of the newspaper “Umuseso”, who has been imprisoned for the past month for allegedly “inciting people to be divisive and practice discrimination”. The organisation said the editor’s detention was simply an excuse for the government to crack down on independent media […]

(RSF/IFEX) – Former state television journalist Gédéon Mushimiyimana was released from jail on 11 November 2002 after six years in detention for allegedly taking part in the country’s 1994 genocide. In early November, the prosecutor’s office in Gitarama took him and other prisoners to meet the residents of his home village. They made no accusations […]