Moise Nkundabarashi, the lawyer representing Callixte Nsabimana alias Sankara, a key suspect in the just-concluded FLN trial, has said that they are yet to decide on the next course of action following the 20-year sentence slapped on his client.

Nsabimana was sentenced to 20 years after being convicted for creating a terrorist group and committing acts of terrorism.

He was also found guilty of using forged documents as well as genocide denial.

However, the former FLN spokesperson was acquitted of creating an irregular armed group, collaborating with a foreign state to destabilize the internal security and giving or receiving terrorism-linked resources.

The court also absolved him of charges of carrying out terror activities for political interests, complicity, mobilizing others to join terror groups and discrediting Rwanda in foreign states.

In an exclusive interview with The New Times, Nkundabarashi welcomed some of the decisions by the three-judge panel of the High Court Chamber for International and Cross Border Crimes.

"My client originally had 16 charges, but he was only convicted with five, that’s a good development which is commendable in terms of administering fair justice,” he commented.

Asked if he felt court was fair to his client putting into consideration that he was cooperative and surrendered information to investigators following his arrest, Nkundabarashi said that the court went beyond legal provisions to give him a lenient sentence.  

"Remember he got a 20-years jail term from a possible life sentence considering the penal law. For the crimes he faced, the law stipulates a maximum life sentence and a minimum of 25 years, but the court went below. That is another commendable development,” he added.

"Of course as his lawyer, I can request for a much more lenient sentence, but the court has the final say,” he noted.

Asked whether they plan to appeal, he said that decision will be made after they have read the full verdict and sit with his client to determine a way forward.

The litigant were given by court 30 days within which they can appeal.

"Filing an appeal before reading the whole court decision is unprofessional, so I am still waiting for the written verdict and also to discuss with my client, that is where we will decide whether to appeal or not,” he said.

Who is Callixte Nsabimana?

Nsabimana fled to South Africa in 2013 and became the youth coordinator of Rwanda National Congress, an unrecognized political party founded by a Rwandan dissident Kayumba Nyamwasa.

In 2017, he moved to the Democratic Republic of Congo and created his own political party RRM which later joined the MRCD coalition and became the spokesperson of its military wing, FLN.

The group raided attacks on Rwandan soil from June 2018 to October 2019 in which at least nine civilians were killed. At the time, he was their spokesperson and on several occasions appeared in media claiming responsibility of the attacks.

He was arrested in April 2019 in Comoros islands after which he entered a guilty plea, and surrendered information that helped solidify the case against others, including Paul Rusesabagina.