A journalist with The Chronicles, an English weekly paper based in Rwanda, has been charged with lying to Law enforcement organs.Idriss Gasana Byiringiro was yesterday arraigned before Gasabo Primary Court.According to prosecution, Byiringiro told Police that he was kidnapped by “security operatives” however, after a thorough investigation, it emerged that his ordeal was faked, leading to his arrest.Byiringiro initially told reporters that he lied to police as part of research for a newspaper story as well as an academic paper. He is a third-year Journalism student at the National University of Rwanda.“In the course of the investigations, we found that he (Byiringiro) used a Safaricom SIM card and a Motorola phone to send text messages containing threats to his regular number. The Motorola hand set was tracked and found at his home,” Prosecutor Janvier Heshimana told court.The court heard that while Byiringiro claimed he was kidnapped, and driven to Bugesera - a one hour drive out of Kigali - available phone records indicate that he made several calls from Kigali during the times he says the kidnapping occurred.“We are still conducting investigations to find out exactly why he came up with this plot, which is why we request the court to keep him in custody because if released he might tamper with evidence that is still out there or even skip bail,” Heshimana said.When Byiringiro took to the stand, he told the Judge that he was actually kidnapped.“While in the interrogation room at the police headquarters, in presence of four police officers, I was asked to make a verbal statement, in the course of my statement, the men kept interrupting saying that I was lying and that if I continued insisting I was kidnapped, that would have consequences on me.” Byiringiro said.He added that he never accused the security agencies of kidnapping him, saying he only assumed “the four men in a black land cruiser were linked to the security agencies since they had ‘very sophisticated equipment that they were using to manipulate his phone.”However, judge Theophile Nzisabira presented Byiringiro with documents among them an MTN phone call log that showed all locations of his phone during the time he claims he was in Bugesera with his kidnappers.During the hearing, Byiringiro’s lawyer, Evariste Nsabayezu told the judge that his client is a third year journalism student who needed to go back to school and that if released on bail he would not flee or tamper with any evidence.“There wasn’t an arrest warrant, he was just summoned to police and he showed up which means he is cooperative and there are people willing to stand surety for him,” Nsabayezu said.Byiringiro’s employer at The Chronicles, Christopher Kayumba and his uncle Sylvestre Gasana stood surety for him before the court in case he is given bail.The court is today scheduled to decide whether he gets bail.
