The Military High Court yesterday postponed the case involving Col. Tom Byabagamba and Brig. Gen. (Rtd) Frank Rusagara following the absence of defence lawyers. The trial, which also involves a one Francois Kabayiza, a former driver to Rusagara, had started to be tried in substance previously, but yesterday none of the defendants’ lawyers was present. Appearing before court, the accused, who were all present in court, said they were not ready for trial because they did not have legal representation. Asked if they had any objection, Capt Faustin Nzakamwita, who represented military prosecution, said that they had no objection to the defendants’ request that the trial be adjourned to a time when their lawyers will be present. “In the interest of fair trial, we cannot push for the case to proceed when the accused have no legal counsel. We however would like court to schedule it as soon as possible, and where possible, on successive days because this case has dragged for long,” said Captain Faustin Nzakamwita, the prosecutor. He said that the lawyers’ absence was part of a deliberate effort to delay the case. The judges set the trial on three consecutive days of January 5, 6 and 7 directing that all parties be present so that the case starts with no further delays. The confusion that led to the absence of the lawyers emerged from the fact that the case had initially been fixed for Monday, December 28 but this fell on a public holiday, which led court to push it to the following day, which was yesterday. “All the lawyers in this case are senior lawyers who know the directive from the Supreme Court which states that any trial date that falls on a public holiday will automatically be moved to the next working day,” said Nzakamwita. Meanwhile, Byabagamba, who is a former commandant of the Republican Guards Brigade, asked court to grant them more contact time with their lawyers, saying that they two hours they have been allocated is not enough, given the paperwork involved in the case. To this, the judge said that an agreeable time should be sought after consultation between the prosecution, the lawyers, and the military police, which has them in custody. Rusagara is amongst other counts, accused of inciting public insurrection that amounted to tarnishing the image of the state and illegal possession of fire arms, a crime he jointly shares with Colonel Byabagamba. Byabagamba is also charged with public incitement, obstruction of justice through concealing evidence, illegal possession of fire arms and contempt of national coat of arms. Kabayiza is accused of complicity in illegal possession of fire arms and concealing evidence in a criminal infraction.
