Radio personality Bagirishya’s sentence reduced to eight months

Gasabo Intermediate Court on Monday overturned the two-year jail sentence that a primary court had given to the Rwanda Volleyball Federation’s vice president in charge of competitions, Jean De Dieu Bagirishya, reducing it to eight months. According to the latest sentence, he is expected to be released in two months. Bagirishya who is also the managing director of local radio station BnB Umwezi had appealed an earlier ruling by the Gasabo Intermediate court which had convicted him of forgery. Popularly known as Jado Castar, Bagirishya was found guilty of forgery last year in October and appealed in January this year. He was apprehended by Rwanda Investigations Bureau (RIB) in September, two days after the national women’s volleyball team was disqualified from the Confederation of African Volleyball tournament that Rwanda was hosting. On October 8 last year, Bagirishya was arraigned in the Gasabo Intermediate Court and charged with forgery, an offence which he committed when he reportedly tried to secure clearance for the players in question so that they could be allowed to play for Rwanda. Appearing before the judge, he pleaded guilty of the offenses, a development that sped up the trial. The country’s disqualification was related to fielding four ineligible players, for whom the local federation did not have all the necessary documents to clear them to represent the country. The players were originally from South America and were making their debut appearances for Rwanda in the tournament.

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Radio personality Bagirishya’s sentence reduced to eight months