On 12th January, Agnès Uwimana Nkusi, the editor of the privately-owned bimonthly Umurabyo was arrested and is currently being held at the Muhima district police station in Kigali.

Arrested by police on the orders of the Nyarugenge prosecutor’s office on charges of “sectarianism” and “discrimination,” Nkusi was interrogated by the deputy prosecutor about an open letter to independent journalists on the subject of press freedom violations, which she published in issue No. 11 of Umurabyo.

The police said the authorities intended to arrest her sources and bring the same charges against them.

Umurabyo is one of the very few Kigali-based publications that criticise the government. There was already controversy over an article in the preceding issue headlined: “You have problems if you kill a Tutsi, but you go free if you kill a Hutu.” The government controlled High Council of the Press ruled that Umurabyo should be suspended for three months because of the article.

Trackback this Post | Feed on comments to this Post