Moses Turahirwa, the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Moshions, a renowned fashion house in Kigali, is set to file an appeal challenging the Nyarugenge primary court’s decision to remand him for 30 days.
One of his lawyers, Irene Bayisabe, told The New Times that they intend to file an appeal.
"We have five days, as per the law, to appeal court decisions, and we will file the appeal as soon as possible. I am still waiting to meet him and discuss the matter so that we can submit our request within the stipulated time frame,” he stated.
Also, Bayisabe emphasised that they are now appealing the court’s decision based on the drug misuse charge.
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During the bail ruling on May 15, the presiding judge pointed out that the court had denied him bail, arguing that there were reasonable grounds to suspect Turahirwa of drug abuse.
However, the judge emphasized that there were no reasonable grounds to suspect Turahirwa of forging documents. This assertion was supported by the argument that the original passport showed no signs of tampering.
The prosecution presented grounds for bringing Turahirwa to court during the bail hearing on May 10. They accused him of forging a copy of his passport by changing the gender from male, as indicated in the original document, to female, as well as altering the age.
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The prosecution also highlighted that Turahirwa had used cannabis on multiple occasions, and a fragment of cannabis was found in a shirt discovered in his room.
They presented evidence, including tests from the Rwanda Forensic Laboratory confirming the illegal use of cannabis, as well as a conversation between Turahirwa and an individual in Italy, where he shared a forged copy of his passport.
Turahirwa defended himself by claiming that the drugs found in his bloodstream were a result of smoking cannabis during his two-year stay in Italy. He denied the accusation of passport forgery, stating that the alterations made to his passport copy were solely for his upcoming new movie titled ‘Kwanda Season One’.
He also stated that he had never worn the particular shirt in which the fragment of cannabis was found.