Prosecution has requested the Nyarugenge Lower Instance Court to jail two editors of Rwanda Independent Media Group (RIMEG) for a year on defamation charges.

Charles Kabonero and Didace Gasana, the RIMEG managing director and Newsline editor respectively are charged with defamation after publishing an article in the Newsline, in which they alleged that businessman Tribert Rujugiro had evaded taxes in South Africa.

The request comes weeks after the prosecution announced it had withdrawn from the case, implying that Rujugiro was supposed to pursue the case without the Prosecution on his side.

Asked how the Prosecution bounced back, Prosecutor General Martin Ngoga maintained that his institution was no longer interested in the case.

"I have been away; the trial took place in my absence but what I know is that we have no reason to backtrack on our earlier decision.

We are no longer interested in this case and our presence in the trial was only procedural because by the time we pulled out, the case was already before court,” Ngoga said.

He said Rujugiro’s lawyers are the ones supposed to adduce their evidence and present it to the court.

"I’m not aware of the development, I’ll make enquiries but we do not have interest in this case,” he added.

Meanwhile, both Kabonero and Gasana were neither in court nor represented.

Prosecutor Garekane Rukaka represented the state while Rujugiro and his attorney Pierre Claver Zitoni, both attended.
Kabonero said that they had already written to court informing it of what he described as "inconvenience.”

He said: "We were both absent during the trial but it is appalling that criminal charges were preferred against us. We were only waiting for a civil case between Rujugiro and us, how the state turned back and picked interest in the case again we don’t know.”

In the letter, Kabonero said they requested court more time to prepare their defence if prosecution insists on bringing up criminal charges.

The verdict is due November 23. Rimeg Deputy Managing Director, Furaha Mugisha, faces separate criminal charges of using doctored documents to acquire a Rwandan passport and issuing a bounced cheque.

The Immigration and Emigration Department is the plaintiff in the case, and alleges that Mugisha is a Tanzanian, who only forged used forged papers to obtain a Rwandan passport.
In a related development, Kabonero said yesterday that two out of three Rimeg publications – Newsline and Umuseso – would reopen operations today.

Last month, the media house had suspended its newspapers insisting that Cabinet ministers who accused it of collaborating with the enemies of the state should first substantiate their allegations.

Ends