Ntaganda loses bail application

KIGALI - Court yesterday denied bail to Bernard Ntaganda, the leader of a faction of PS-Imberakuri political party, citing the seriousness and nature of the charges he is facing which include, organising a terrorist group, threatening state security and inciting ethnic divisionism. Two of the eight people arrested with Ntaganda were cleared of all charges while 5 were released on bail. Ntaganda immediately appealed the bail ruling. Following a marathon of court hearings which began on Tuesday, a panel of judges yesterday said that the court did not attach value to the grounds on which Ntaganda was seeking bail. Court averred that the constitutional rights of the nine accused were not violated during the arrest while there was no abuse of the period which anyone was supposed to spend in detention before appearing before prosecution and later in court. In Ntaganda’s case, court considered the arguments of the prosecution regarding the gravity of the charges he is facing which include threatening state security and attempting, through his utterances, to incite the masses against the government through ethnic divisions. Among other things, the judges pointed at some of the speeches that Ntaganda has uttered, including those that the Senate based on to summon him when he was the leader of the political group. It was also argued that there is evidence that Ntaganda indeed could have been planning activities that would undermine the security of the state, mentioning the alleged “dangerous instruments” seized from his office in a swoop.Ntaganda denies all the charges. Theobald Mutarambirwa and Theogene Muhayeyezu, a lawyer who was arrested at the Supreme Court after he was suspected to be part of the demonstration were immediately released and cleared of all charges. Sylvain Sibomana, Martin Ntavuka an FDU member, Jean Baptiste Icyitonderwa, a student of Kigali Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) and member of PS Imberakuri and Sylvere Mwizerwa were released on bail by the Nyarugenge Intermediate Court in Nyamirambo. They will be reporting to the prosecution twice in a month.The other person in the case, the treasurer of FDU-Inkingi, Alice Muhirwa, did not appear in court. Ends

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Ntaganda loses bail application