Prosecution on Thursday presented to court emails it alleged retired Brigadier General Frank Rusagara sent to various people in a bid to spread harmful propaganda. Rusagara is on trial in the Military High Court, and is accused of inciting insurrection, tarnishing the image of the Head of State and the country and illegal possession of firearms. Captain Faustin Nzakamwita, who is leading the prosecution team said the accused spread rumors and negative propaganda against his own country through email correspondences with some people, including fellow colleagues and members of his family. He said that acting on a search warrant granted by the Office of the Prosecutor General, the prosecution gained access to seven email exchanges that the retired general sent to several people, including his co-accused, Colonel Tom Byabagamba. “Most of the documents were picked from the internet by Brig. Gen Rusagara emphasising negative content some of which propagated to the Rwanda National Congress (RNC) ideology,” he said. Captain Nzakamwita further stated that one piece of news published by the Radio France International (RFI) that talked about the downing of a plane that was carrying former President Juvenal Habyarimana was sent to a certain Mukimbiri when the accused was still in service. This, according to him, was spreading rumors aiming at tarnishing the image of the Head of State and the unjustifiable role of the Rwanda Patriotic Front in the plane crash. He added that the retired General disseminated articles published on hostile websites with the intention of inciting the public. The prosecutor told court that such acts amount to alarming the population with intention to cause trouble on national territory which is punishable under article 463 of the Penal Code. “Having seen and heard what came out of the witnesses earlier on Rusagara’s deliberate role in inciting insurrections and tarnishing the image of both the country and the Head of State, these exchanges of negative website links carrying such stories is an act of spreading rumors that needs to be verified by the court and before it can decide accordingly,” he told the court. In his defence, Rusagara stated that criminalising access to information, reading and sharing news without further proof of intention behind was unjust, at least with respect to his former line of duties. “As someone who was a Military Attaché in the United Kingdom, such were our daily preoccupations, we were supposed to read all sources of information and most of these emails I totally disliked.” “We were faced with false information that was coming from negative forces, thus sharing such information does not mean spreading negative propaganda,” he said. His legal counsel, Pierre Celestin Buhuru, said that the prosecution would need to provide evidence of the malicious intentions of his client, who he said besides sharing the news pieces had never commented on the emails. “The prosecution should show constructive elements and facts behind what they called negative intention when sending a mere link in mail exchanges, they should justify it beyond reasonable doubt that there were negative intentions behind,” he said. The trial was adjourned to next week when the court will hear charges of possession of illegal firearms which Rusagara shares with his former driver, retired Staff Sergent Francois Kabayiza, and Colonel Tom Byabagamba.
