RNC terror trial continues at Military High Court today

Prosecutors in the ongoing terror trial on Thursday have told the Military High Court that Schadrack Mwumvayabo was tasked by the Rwanda National Congress (RNC) to map all the military barracks in the country.

Thursday, July 10, 2014
Joel Mutabazi (in military uniform) and the co-accused in court. (John Mbanda)

Prosecutors in the ongoing terror trial on Thursday have told the Military High Court that Schadrack Mwumvayabo was tasked by the Rwanda National Congress (RNC) to map all the military barracks in the country.

Schadrack Mwumvayabo has denied the charges, saying he has no idea of the map.

"The Prosecution has to explain where this map is because they took away my laptop trying to search for that map”, Numvayabo has told the Court.

READ ALSORNC promised us scholarships – suspect

Leandre Byusa, Mwumvayabo’s lawyer, told the Court that his client only read RNC documents, a defense that the judges rejected asking, "do you know that planning to commit a crime is also punishable?

Mwumvayabo is one of the 16 suspects that include Lt. Joel Mutabazi.

Yesterday, Jean De Dieu Nizigiyeyo, one of the suspects, told the Court that agents of the RNC promised them scholarships if they joined the organisation.

He told judges that he joined RNC after Cyprian Nibishaka, a student at the National University of Rwanda, promised him a scholarship and a job.

Nizigiyeyo had not qualified for a government scholarship after his high school.

"Nibishaka convinced me to join RNC with hopes of a scholarship right after getting a membership card,” he said.

Prosecution charges that Nibishaka promised other students who were not on the government scholarship scheme that an academic funding package was available and that they would also get jobs after school.

The suspects are charged with crimes against the State, terrorism, formation of a criminal gang, among others.

Follow the trial live on Twitter @NewTimesRwanda