Editor, 

KIZITO MIHIGO cannot plead being misled by others for he is an adult. He cannot claim not to have known the conspiracy he was willing to join was not a very serious crime that in some jurisdictions is subject to capital punishment. 

Not only did he know the serious nature of the crimes he was willing to lend his name to; he discussed with Callixte Nsabimana, an exiled co-conspirator, about the best timing of some of the proposed criminal acts within the conspiracy in order to give himself an alibi and to take action to destroy evidence that might link him to the crime.

He also suggested assassination in lieu of war and the need for any invasion to wait until he was safely outside the country. 

The question we might ask ourselves is why? Why would an up-and-coming artist with what looked like only a rosy future ahead of him risk everything for promises of future rewards? 

I would not claim to know how Mihigo’s thought processes work, but throughout history unfettered ambition has been the cause of the fall of many men and women for whom the future looked only promising. 

Muhigo is neither the first, nor certainly the last, to lose it all by listening to the siren song of such overweening ambition.

Mwene Kalinda, Rwanda

Reaction to the story, "Kizito Mihigo, co-accused in court today” (The New Times, April 21)