Military high court rules Cpl Gahamanyi to life in Prison

By Robert Mugabe
A Military High Court sitting in Mukamira Sector, Nyabihu District has sentenced a soldier of the Rwanda Defence Forces to life imprisonment for killing six people and injuring 13.

Cpl. Venant Gahamanyi committed the crime on October 8, after a quarrel in a local bar, over payment of beer bills.

Court also stripped Gahamanyi of his military rank, as Prosecution led by Lt Faustian Nzakamwita, had requested.

Delivering the verdict yesterday in a court fully packed with soldiers and civilians, Judge Maj. Bernard Ndayisaba said,
“After some deliberations, the court has found the accused guilty of the crimes of premeditated murder and attempt to assassination.”

“Therefore Cpl Gahamanyi is hereby sentenced to life in prison for the above mentioned crimes, and stripped of all military ranks.”

Gahamanyi, who appeared in a sombre mood, was given 30 days to appeal if he felt dissatisfied with the verdict.His lawyer, Janvier Ndaruhutse, said he would appeal.

Earlier during the trial on Tuesday, Gahamanyi together with his advocate, Ndaruhutse, argued that he was provoked into shooting after being humiliated and roughed up by a gang who included the bar owner.

His defence was corroborated by residents, who claimed that four men and the bar’s owner had ganged up against Gahamanyi, undressed him, forcing him to retreat and pick the firearm.
“I saw a woman called Specioze Nyirasoni, the owner of the bar, holding this soldier by the neck and pulling his private parts. They wanted to kill him but he managed to sneak out, went and brought the gun and ended up with the whole mess,” said one Kabuguma, briefly interrupting the hearing.
But court dismissed this defence.

However, this case did not pass without incident as residents maintained that the soldier was a good man who was provoked into shooting.
Angry residents dissatisfied with the ruling, blocked the road and stormed the house of Nyirasoni, the bar owner, threatening to lynch her.

It took the intervention of police which shot in the air to disperse the crowd. Nyirasoni was later whisked to the district for safe custody.

“We had deployed armed soldiers with the police at her house, but she still fears for her life since the whole community has turned against her,” a security official said.

Rwanda's Kagame rules out third term

By Robert Mugabe and agencies

KIGALI — Rwandan President Paul Kagame, fresh from his re-election in August, says he has no intention of altering the country's constitution so he can seek a third term in office.

President Kagame was quoted by AFP as saying that he has no need for a new mandate. What he needs and what his government need is to continue on the path of development. He told his former senior officials in his government speech on Saturday.

"Those who seek a third term seek a fourth and then a fifth term," added Kagame in his address, two months after a resounding election victory.

Although he is embarking on a second term in office, Kagame has effectively governed Rwanda since his rebel force ended the country's 1994 genocide against the Tutsi. He took part in the first post-genocide government as vice president and defence minister.
Having been elected president by parliament in 2000, he won presidential elections in 2003, before cruising to a second term in August.

Kagame said it would be a mark of failure if he did not find a suitable replacement before the end of his mandate expires in seven years' time. Under Rwanda's constitution, a president can only serve two full terms.

"That (failing to find a successor) would be my failure and not yours. And it would not be a reason to seek a third mandate," he said.

Gen Kayumba assassin suspect denied bail

By Robert Mugabe

The lead suspect in the assassination attempt on exiled Rwandan Gen. Kayumba Nyamwasa offered some US$1million to South African police officers as bribe to release him clandestinely just after he had been arrested in mid July, a Johannesburg court heard Thursday.

Prosecutors produced in court sworn affidavits from two police officers who narrated that Pascal Kanyandekwe, 29, promised to give them that amount of money in cash if they let him go. The suspect was in court amid very tight security.

The officers attached to a maximum security police detention facility in Johannesburg, said in their affidavits they immediately sensed what the suspect was planning – including possibly leaving the country.

Based on the evidence availed, the Judge ruled to deny bail to Kanyandekwe - the only Rwandan among the five people currently in custody over the failed murder attempt on dissident Gen Nyamwasa on June 29.

The Judge said if Kanyandekwe tried to avoid arrest, he may have intent to flee South Africa.

The magistrate said he would not speculate on whether the murder attempt was backed by the Rwandan government.

It is easy to begin a rebel group than a business in DRC