Kagame bodyguard sentenced to life in prison
Oct 07, 2014
A former bodyguard of Rwanda's Paul Kagame was sentenced to life in prison for his alleged involvement in a series of crimes among them terrorism
By Steven Candia and Agencies
A former bodyguard of Rwanda's Paul Kagame was sentenced to life in prison for his alleged involvement in a series of crimes among them terrorism.
Joel Mutabazi who was also accused of forming an armed group and attempting to incite the public against the state, contested the decision saying he had been kidnapped and would appeal.
Mutabazi was sentenced alongside his co-accused Joseph Nshimiyimana by the military court which also ruled that Mutabazi be stripped of his rank.
Mutabazi was also convicted of being an accomplice in grenade attacks that killed two people in a Kigali market last year in coordination with exiled opposition groups.
trueMutabazi however said he was kidnapped last October in Uganda, where he had refugee status, and brought back to Rwanda to stand trial. Human Rights Watch said last year his "forcible return raises grave concerns".
The judge in Kigali found Mutabazi and Nshimiyimana guilty of plotting to kill the president. The prosecution said the Rwanda National Congress, an opposition group based in South Africa, had offered the men $50,000 to support the plot.
Mutabazi was one of 16 people on trial, including three of his relatives. The three relatives were jailed for between four and eight months. All those convicted said they would appeal. "Yes, I have appealed because I cannot consider this as a fair trial," Mutabazi told reporters.
"It's not fair, I am a refugee I was kidnapped. How can you judge someone? They have no evidence." Mutabazi was first arrested in Rwanda in 2010, but managed to flee to Uganda in 2011. In Uganda, he was given refugee status and protection after an assassination attempt and a bungled abduction, Human Rights Watch said.
Mutabazi was arrested in Kampala in 2013 and his controversial extradition to Kigali under dubious circumstances made headlines in the media, attracting the attention of rights groups.
The judge said Mutabazi and Nshimiyimana were accomplices in grenade attacks in September last year that killed two people and wounded others. Nshimiyimana was also jailed for life.
Prosecution accused the two of working with the Rwanda National Congress, and the FDLR, a rebel group based in east Democratic Republic of Congo which the government maintains includes members of the Hutu militia that was behind the 1994 genocide.
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