Court proceedings involving suspects in cases linked to illicit alcohol production got underway on Tuesday and Wednesday, with up to 16 people appearing before Kicukiro Primary Court. Those who appeared include owners and employees of alcohol manufacturing companies, as well as officials from the Rwanda Food and Drugs Authority (Rwanda FDA), who prosecutors accuse of failing to report irregularities they found during inspections of alcohol factories. ALSO READ: Experts explain how illicit alcohol causes blindness, organ damage The latest hearings on Wednesday involved four Rwanda FDA inspectors. Prosecutors faulted them for allegedly failing to report problems they encountered during inspections, which they said allowed some factories to continue operating despite the irregularities. On Tuesday, the court heard cases involving Rwanda FDA Director General Emile Bienvenu and other agency staff, as well as Samuel Ntihanabayo, the owner and manager of Ingufu Gin Factory, alongside other factory owners and employees. Wednesday cases Among the Rwanda FDA officials who appeared before the court on Wednesday were Claudine Niyigena, an inspection specialist; Elizabeth Uwamahoro and Alice Muhimpundu, who also work in inspection; and Patrick Rukundo, a marketing and surveillance specialist. According to the prosecution, Muhimpundu inspected Terimbere Agribusiness Limited and found sanitation problems and the use of substandard packaging. However, prosecutors said she did not recommend that the factory be closed. ALSO READ: Kagame: We cannot sit and watch as illicit alcohol kills people In her defence, Muhimpundu said she carried out the inspection in 2025, when the factory did not have the problems cited by prosecutors. She argued that a later inspection in 2026 may have found different conditions. She said Rwanda FDA uses 10 criteria when deciding whether a factory should be closed and that, based on her 2025 inspection, the factory did not meet the threshold for closure. Muhimpundu asked the court to grant her bail, saying she is married, has a home and holds only one nationality, which she argued meant she had no reason to flee the country. Niyigena, meanwhile, was accused of failing to report irregularities she allegedly found during an inspection of Buffalo Limited in 2025. Prosecutors said the factory did not have a production manager and was using ethanol whose source could not be established, but that Niyigena did not include these issues in her report. In her defence, Niyigena cited several people who had briefly worked as production managers at the factory, including Gisele Uwineza, who worked there for a month, and Robert Dukuzumuremyi, who left after only one day. She argued that the factory had a production manager when she conducted her inspection, but that the person might have left by the time investigators and prosecutors later visited the facility. Niyigena also asked for bail, saying she has a child under three years old and that the child's father works outside Kigali. She promised to cooperate with the court while the case proceeds. Rukundo was accused of inspecting a factory where he allegedly found ethanol whose source was unknown but failed to report it. Prosecutors also said the factory did not present an operating licence and had changed premises, issues they alleged he knew about but did not include in his report. ALSO READ: Experts: Illicit alcohol crackdown should go beyond enforcement In his defence, Rukundo said the inspection was conducted jointly with officials from up to seven institutions, including the Rwanda Investigation Bureau (RIB) and Rwanda National Police (RNP). He said he was not the team leader and questioned why he was the only member of the team facing prosecution. Rukundo denied the allegations, saying he was simply a member of the inspection team and did not have authority to make decisions. He asked for bail, saying he had recently married and could provide property as security. Uwamahoro was also accused of failing to properly report problems identified during an inspection of an alcohol manufacturing facility. In her defence, she said she was an intern at the time of the inspection and therefore had no authority to make decisions or issue recommendations. She said professional internship rules do not give interns the powers of employees of the institution. Uwamahoro also asked for bail, promising to cooperate with investigators and the court. She told the court that she has a six-month-old baby who became sick while being brought to the detention facility to breastfeed. According to her, medical personnel advised that the baby be taken home, where she is now being cared for by a housemaid. The court is expected to deliver its ruling on the suspects' bail applications on September 9.
