The Court of Appeal will, on Monday, March 21 issue its verdict in the appeal case of the FLN, a militia group whose leaders and fighters were convicted of terrorism in September last year. The appeal case was filed by all sides: - convicts, the National Public Prosecution Authority (NPPA), as well as victims of the terror attacks committed by the FLN. The FLN is the outfit behind the 2018 and 2019 attacks in South-Western Rwanda, where at least nine unarmed civilians lost their lives, more others injured and property destroyed or looted. In the appeal case, the NPPA protested the penalties given to the convicts, saying they were too lenient in comparison to the crimes they committed. The High Court Chamber for International and Cross-border Crimes (HCCICC) that handled the case at first instance gave the convicts jail terms that ranged from 25 to 3 years. The prosecutors also argued that the HCCICC absolved some defendants of certain charges such as creating an illegal armed group, financing terrorism, and joining an illegal armed group. In addition, they decried that while rendering its verdict, the HCCICC reclassified some crimes. Here, for instance, counts like murder as an act of terrorism, kidnap as an act of terrorism, armed robbery as an act of terrorism among others were reclassified as one crime — committing terrorism and taking part in it. On the other hand, 13 of the convicted persons claimed that the penalties they were given were too heavy, considering some mitigating factors, for example, the fact that they pleaded guilty and collaborated with the court during the trial process. Some argued that they were convicted without sufficient evidence, and others argued that they should be given chance for rehabilitation and reintegration into the community, just like a number of militiamen had been treated in the past. A number of them also claimed that they should not be made to pay compensations to the victims of the attacks, since they did not take part in the incursions that led to the losses. The victims of the attacks also appealed, saying that the compensations awarded to them by the HCCICC were based on the judges’ consideration, not the evidence provided. The HCCICC awarded damages of just over Rwf400 million to the victims, instead of the more than 1.6 billion that they had asked for. The appeal trial started in January and was concluded by the following month. The convicts who appealed include Callixte Nsabimana, the ex-spokesperson of the FLN who was sentenced to 20 years in jail for his role in the terror activities of the group. Other convicts who appealed include Cassien Bizimana, Shaban Emmanuel, Jean-Damascene Nsabimana, Innocent Ntibiramira, Jean-Claude Byukusenge, Marc Nizeyimana, Marcel Niyirora, Emmanuel Iyamuremye and Emmanuel Nshimiyimana.
