The appeal trial of the FLN terror case continued on Wednesday, January 26, as the defence lawyers and prosecutors clashed over the legitimacy of the High Court Chamber for International and Cross-Border Crimes (HCCICC)’s decision to issue jail terms that were below the minimum stipulated by the law.

The prosecutors argued that during the first-instance trial that climaxed in September last year, the judges at the HCCICC did not observe certain penal code provisions regarding minimum jail sentences for persons convicted of terrorism-related crimes.

They pointed out that the maximum penalty for committing and taking part in acts of terrorism that lead to loss of lives is life imprisonment, and the minimum should not be less than 25 years, in case of mitigating factors.

Here, for example, they questioned the fact that Callixte Nsabimana alias Sankara got a 20-year jail term, instead of 25, which is the least that he should have got after considering mitigating factors that include his guilty plea and collaboration with the HCCICC during the trial process, among others.

"We don’t deny the fact that the law provides for reduced penalties in case of mitigating circumstances. However, the law still provides guidelines concerning how this reduction is done. There are limits that the judges should not go beyond,” said Jean Pierre Habarurema, one of the prosecutors.

They also presented a similar argument about the penalties handed to several other convicts including Marc Nizeyimana, Simeon Nikuzwe, Joseph Ntabanganyimana, Marcel Niyirora, Jean Cretien Ndagijimana, Andre Kwitonda, Emmanuel Iyamuremye, Herman Nsengimana, and Theogene Hakizimana, Emmanuel Nshimiyimana.

 In response to prosecution’s claims, Yusuf Sharif Mugabo, the lawyer representing Kwitonda, Hakizimana and Ndagijimana said the law gives judges the independence to issue penalties that are less than the minimum, in case they find it worthy.

"The constitution which is the highest law, in its  article151 and 5th paragraph says that: In exercising their judicial functions, judges at all times do it in accordance with the law and are independent from any power or authority,” he said.

Jean Rugeyo, the lawyer representing Nsabimana also said similar things about the prosecutors’ arguments.

Here, he noted that there are cases that were decided upon by courts of law in the country, where judges issued penalties that were less than the minimum.

According to him, such cases even include one that took place after the verdict of the FLN trial had been pronounced in 2021.

In that particular case, a man convicted of selling marijuana was handed a 10-year jail term by the Court of Appeal, a penalty that is way less than the 25-years stipulated as the minimum penalty for persons convicted of such crimes.

The FLN is the militia outfit that was behind the 2018 and 2019 attacks in South-Western Rwanda, where at least nine unarmed civilians lost their lives, more others injured and property destroyed or looted.