Rwanda: Wife of one of the three journalists imprisoned over Youtube dangerous publications  griefs as husband’s trial delays

 

TUYIZERE Innocente, is the wife of Niyonsenga Schadrack, a journalist jailed together with two colleagues in 2018 for the published content on Iwacu TV Youtube Channel.

The woman is saddened by the fact that the journalists, including her husband, have been in custody for more than two years and have not yet been tried.

The three journalists, Mutuyimana Jean Damascène, Nshimiyimana Jean Baptiste and Niyonsenga Schadrack, were arrested in October 2018 on charges of ‘publishing contents or images that endanger National Security’.

TUYIZERE Innocente, the wife of Niyonsenga Schadrack, told Ukwezi that she had been running in various places demanding that they be given a trial date but that she was still depressed, and called on the judiciary to bring them to justice as she waited too much citing more than two years without trial.

On the side of Rwanda Media Commission, Barore Cleophas, the head of the Media Self-regulatory Body, told Ukwezi that they had no jurisdiction over the courts so that they can not force the court to expedite the hearing, saying that this is for the judiciary to pursue.

The Journalists’ lawyer, Marie Louise Mukashema, told Ukwezi that after a trial on detention and release, they were given a trial date but the name of the crime changed.

The case was re-assigned to another court, and the court has ruled that it has no jurisdiction to try the case.

She says that although they have been delayed due to a number of reasons, they have now filed an urgent appeal demanding that they be released and will stand trial without detention, and that they are confident because that is what the law provides.

The trial is set to begin on December 3, 2020.