KICUKIRO - Umuvugizi, a Kinyarwanda tabloid, has been dragged to court over charges of defamation and invasion of privacy, The New Times has established. The case has been forwarded to the Kagarama Lower Instance Court, by the Nyarugenge public prosecution. The Kagarama court President, Janvier Muhire, confirmed receiving the case yesterday saying he has already filed it and soon a trial date will be fixed. “Yes, I have received the case, but I am yet to summon them so that we can fix the date,” Muhire said. The Nyarugenge prosecutor, Richard Muhumuza, also said yesterday that they are waiting for a trial date. “We forwarded it to the court last week. We are ready and have all necessary evidence to begin trial. Even if any other evidence comes up, we can still forward it to court for consideration,” Muhumuza said. Umuvugizi paper has been accused of slander, abuse, defamation and meddling in someone’s privacy. The paper recently published an article which claimed that John Bosco Mutangana, a senior prosecutor was involved in a sexual scandal. The controversial article was authored by John Bosco Gasasira who is also the Editor-in-Chief of the paper. Muhumuza explains that in publishing the story, Gasasira violated article 11 of the Media Law which indicates the restrictions in journalists’ profession. The New Times has learnt that Mutangana, who also heads the Genocide Fugitive Tracking Unit, recently reported his case to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) headquarters in Kacyiru. Efforts to speak to Gasasira were fruitless as he did not pick up his cell phone. Ends
