KIGALI - Bosco Gasasira, Editor in Chief of Umuvugizi newspaper has appealed his defamation and invasion of privacy case he recently lost at Kagarama Primary court.

Speaking to The Sunday Times on Friday, Gasasira said he appealed his lost case because the previous court neglected the ‘goodwill’ element in his publication of the article.

"I don’t have any grudge with either of the two. What I did was simply referring to what my fellow journalists had come up with and showing my readers that something fishy had kept them behind the bars,” Gasasira said.

He also said the second reason for his appeal was due to the fact that judge did not clearly explore the articles of media law on invasion of privacy.

"The law says that a journalist is free to invade a public figure’s privacy if the kind of privacy is affecting the public. So I am not guilty of having published the article which they claim was invading John Bosco Mutangana and Doctor Diane Gashumba’s privacy,” Gasasira added.

Passing his earlier judgment, Judge Silas Nsengiyumva found Gasasira guilty on two out of three charges.

Court overruled prosecution’s request of a prison sentence against Gasasira and the closure of his paper basing on article 83 of the media law.

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