Ntaganda case kicks off

The case involving the embattled leader of a faction of PS-Imberakuri, Bernard Ntaganda, and six other people will kick off today at the High Court despite two of his co-accused absent. Ntaganda, who was denied bail by the Nyarugenge Intermediate Court, is charged with organisation of a terrorist group, threatening state security and inciting ethnic divisionism.He is also accused of organising an illegal gathering together with Theobald Mutarambirwa, Sylvain Sibomana, Martin Ntavuka, Jean Baptiste Icyitonderwa, and Sylvere Mwizerwa and Alice Muhirwa, all from PS Imberakuri and FDU-Inkingi. The case was supposed to kick off on Wednesday but it could not start because two of the people accused with Ntaganda disappeared and their whereabouts are not known. The Judge, Pie Mugabo ruled that case continues on Friday in the absence of the two. Unconfirmed reports indicate that the two, Theobald Mutarambwira and Martin Ntavuka escaped to a neighbouring country. The two, who had been arrested in separate incidents, had been released on bail before they escaped.Prosecution accuses Ntaganda of planning activities that threaten state security and uttering statements that deliberately propagate the genocide ideology and ethnic divisions.In the case heard last year by the Nyarugenge Court, Ntaganda was denied bail on grounds that the charges he was facing were of a serious nature. Ends

National

Ntaganda case kicks off