KIGALI (Reuters) – A Rwandan singer known for his renditions of the national anthem and three others appeared in the High Court on Friday charged with conspiring against the government.
Singer Kizito Mihigo, radio journalist Cassien Ntamuhanga, retired soldier Jean Paul Dukuzumuremyi and Agnes Niyibizi, an accountant, appeared in court clad in the pink outfits worn by detainees.
The case has drawn wide public interest because of Mihigo’s popularity as a performer. It has also prompted criticism from rights group Reporters Without Borders, who have expressed concern about press freedom over the arrest of a journalist and others. [eap_ad_1] President Paul Kagame and government officials have often talked of plots against the state in the past year, sometimes blaming former top security officers linked to the South Africa-based opposition group, the Rwanda National Congress.
Mihigo and Ntamuhanga, a journalist for Rwanda’s Amazing Christian Radio, were accused by the prosecution of plotting with the Congress via Skype and WhatsApp. The prosecution said conversations took place earlier this year.
Former soldier Dukuzumuremyi was allegedly given money to carry out grenade attacks in Kigali, while Niyibizi is accused of facilitating a cash transfer to him, the prosecution said.
“Our position is that he (Mihigo) is innocent,” Mihigo’s lawyer John Bigarama told Reuters.
The defendants, detained in April, are charged with an offence against the government, conspiracy against the government and forming a criminal gang. They did not enter pleas at Friday’s hearing.
The case was adjourned by the judge until Oct. 10 after Mihigo’s three co-accused said they had not seen the dossier of accusations. Two of them did not have lawyers.
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