Mushayidi loses appeal

VERDICT :Supreme Court upheld life sentence for the former journalist. The Supreme Court yesterday upheld a life sentence for Deogratias Mushayidi which was handed down by the High Court in 2010.It affirmed that he was guilty of causing state insecurity, inciting the population to hate the government and using forged documents.Mushayidi had appealed against the sentence in the highest court of the country but a judge yesterday ruled that he did not present enough evidence to mitigate his case.In September 2010, Mushayidi, 50, was handed a life sentence after he was found guilty of the above charges and also ordered to pay Rwf 73,150. The Spokesperson of the Supreme Court, Charles Kaliwabo, told The New Times that the Supreme Court did not find enough reasons from Mushayidi and his defence team to clear him or reduce the sentence.“The ruling was made today after several hearings. The Supreme Court maintained the sentence based on the evidence presented by the Prosecution, which implicates him and which the High Court had based on to sentence him,” Kaliwabo said.In the ruling yesterday, the Supreme Court affirmed the High Court’s sentence, in addition to paying court charges amounting to Rwf833,500.Mushayidi was arrested in Burundi and subsequently extradited to Rwanda on March 5, 2010. Before his arrest, he is said to have crisscrossed the region for months in a bid to set up a network for his armed group, PDP-Imanzi.

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Mushayidi loses appeal