The brother of terror suspect Joel Mutabazi and the prosecution yesterday revealed how the accused used the former to sneak a pistol into Uganda, which he later used to shoot at his own house as a strategy to get asylum.

Details of how Mutabazi staged his own shooting were made public at the beginning of his trial alongside his 15 co-accused, including his younger brother Jackson Karemera, at the Military High Court in Kanombe, Kigali.

"Mutabazi, who was serving under the presidential guard, deserted the military on October 29, 2011 and crossed into Uganda where he attempted to seek asylum,” said prosecutor Faustin Nzakamwita.

"While he was still in the military, Mutabazi had obtained a pistol, which he buried at Eugene Mutamba’s farm (a co-accused, who happens to be his uncle). After failing to secure asylum, he called his younger brother (Karemera), who was studying in Uganda at the time and sent him for the pistol since he couldn’t come for it himself because he was a deserter,” he said.

When he got the gun, Nzakamwita told court, Mutabazi realised that the bullets were faulty and then used his wife to get him some bullets.

His wife called her sister, Diane Gasengayire (a co-accused who is Mutabazi’s sister-in-law), and asked her to find some bullets. Gasengayire got two bullets and sent them to Uganda, the prosecutor said.

He added that these were the very bullets that Mutabazi would later use to shoot at his house as a means of justifying his seeking asylum.

"After shooting at his house, he handed the gun to his brother. Karemera then took the pistol and threw it in a pit latrine.”

"Mutabazi then reported to the (Ugandan) authorities and UNHCR that he had been attacked by Kigali authorities,” added Nzakamwita.

Guilty pleas from co-accused

The prosecutor’s version was corroborated by Karemera, who confessed to the court of how he travelled to Rwanda to get a gun from his uncle’s farm and sneaked it into Uganda through Nyagatare.

He told the judges how Mutabazi asked him to make the pistol disappear and how he did it. 

Also arraigned before the Military High Court was Mutamba, who pleaded guilty to illegal possession of firearms. 

He talked of how Mutabazi asked him to give the pistol to his brother and why the terror suspect needed it.

At the beginning of the trial, Mutabazi pleaded not guilty on all the charges. 

He is charged with deserting the military, terrorism, formation of an armed group, spreading rumours with the intention of inciting the public to rise up against the state, murder, crimes against the state, illegal possession of a firearm and attempt to harm the person of the President.

During his pre-trial hearing, Mutabazi pleaded not guilty before he reportedly entering a guilty plea during a closed door hearing.

Yet in a dramatic twist yesterday, Mutabazi again pleaded not guilty and rejected to participate in his trial arguing that only God can judge him fairly.

The hearing, which lasted more than eight hours, is expected to continue today.