Supreme Court upholds Ntaganda’s sentence

The Supreme Court, yesterday morning, upheld a four-year jail sentence handed to the leader of a faction of PS-Imberakuri party, Bernard Ntaganda, by the High Court.Ntaganda had contested the sentence handed to him early this year but his appeal was thrown out.He was found guilty of conducting an illegal gathering, threatening state security and inciting ethnic divisionism through his utterances during meetings with party members.The court also found him at fault for mobilising the population to rebel against government programmes, including grassroots-based credit savings cooperatives commonly known as Umurenge SACCOs.Presiding judge, Immaculée Nyirinkwaya, said that the reasons for his appeal were unconvincing, thereby upholding the previous sentence.She also dismissed counterclaims that Ntaganda was offering his views as a politician when making the statements.“Any Rwandan who hides under the guise of politics to utter such careless statements cannot be tolerated,” she asserted before making the ruling.Ntaganda, who first appeared before the Supreme Court in January, was also directed to pay Rwf 105,000. He was not present in court when the ruling was made.During previous hearings, Ntaganda maintained that the statements which formed the basis for his sentencing were wrongly interpreted.

National

Supreme Court upholds Ntaganda’s sentence