Musanze Intermediate Court on Monday for the second time postponed the substantive trial of an assault case involving four grassroots leaders and security personnel attached to District Administrative Security Support Organ (DASSO). The trial was this time round postponed following the sudden withdrawal from the case of the lawyer by one of the suspects. Benjamin Cyiza, the lawyer who represented Jean Paul Sebashotsi (the prime suspect), told court that he no longer wants to represent the suspect over what he described as his personal reasons. Sebashotsi is the executive secretary of Cyuve Sector in Musanze District. During the brief court session, Cyiza presented to court a letter in which he asked to be excused from the trial. Sebashotsi weighed in and told the court that he was surprised by the decision of his lawyer, stressing that personally, he was ready for the trial in substance. The defendant went on to ask the court to postpone the trial as he couldnt proceed without a lawyer, he also requested enough time for him to look for another lawyer. Meanwhile, Emmanuel Habiyakare, the lawyer representing the other suspects was also not in court but had earlier written informing court that he had medical leave that will go up to July 6. After examining all the submissions, court decided to postpone the substantive trial to July 7, 2020 noting that all parties involved should be ready by then. The substantive trial had also been postponed last Wednesday after Sebashotsi failed to show up in court. His lawyer who at the time was present, told court that he had learnt in the morning that his client was sick. Besides Sebashotsi, other suspects are Jean-Léonidas Tuyisabimana, the executive secretary of Kabeza Cell from in Cyuve Sector and Anaclet Nsabimana, Sylvain Abiyingoma and Martin Maniriho who are all security officers under DASSO. The officials were on May 14th 2020 caught on video that went viral on social media bettering two residents who reportedly did not wear face masks as a directive in place to fight Covid-19.
