Eight remanded, one freed in terrorism group hearing

Nyarugenge Intermediate Court has ordered the release of one of the nine people suspected of being members of the so-called P5 armed group said to operate from DR Congo. The rest were remanded for 30 days. The accused were arrested early this month as part of investigations into formation of the armed group calling itself P5. Reading the court decision on bail application of the defendants, the presiding judge ordered that Janvier Twagirayezu be released immediately, adding that there was no criminal culpability on his part. During the hearings, Twangirayezu, a teacher at IPRC-Kigali, admitted to have talked to one of the accused and had refused to be recruited, adding that he isn’t even a member of FDU-Inkingi. Most of the other suspects are linked to FDU-Inkingi, a yet-to-be registered political outfit. The rest of the accused include Papias Ndayishimiye, and Norbert Ufitamahoro, who admitted to have been arrested while heading to DR Congo to join P5. Other suspects include Gratien Nsabiyaremye, Evode Mbarushimana, Leonille Gasengayire, Boniface Twagirimana, Fabien Twagirayezu and Erneste Nkiko – all of whom deny the charges against them. Those remanded said they would appeal the decision and are expected to log their appeal at the High Court. The court said that the decision to remand them was premised on what has been uncovered by prosecution during preliminary investigations. It was decided that they are remanded pending further investigations before the substantive case can begin. After its own investigations, the court found out that the claim by the defendants that their arrest was illegal proved to be unsubstantiated. Prosecution had played some of the recorded conversations provided by a local telecom firm and presented WhatsApp messages exchanged in military codes by some of the defendants adding that they have in possession conclusive evidence linking most of the accused to elements of P5 who are in DR Congo. editorial@newtimes.co.rw

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Eight remanded, one freed in terrorism group hearing