Lt Mutabazi Lawyer Quits Over Suspect’s Contraditions DEMOCRACY & FREEDOMS28 mins ago There was drama at the Rwanda Military High Court in Kanombe, Kigali on Wednesday as the terrorism trial of Lt Joel Mutabazi and his co-accused entered day two. Lt Mutabazi will have to look for a new lawyer Mutabazi’s lawyer, Antoinette Mukamusoni, threw in the towel, saying she had no “business defending a suspect who keeps changing positions.” Mukamusoni said Mutabazi was “full of surprises” and that he would have to look for another representative in court. “We had agreed that the suspect should not to plead guilty but later he changed this position. Now, he has decided to keep quiet,” charged Mukamusoni. Earlier, Mutabazi gave contradictory statements, at one point even denying having deserted the RDF. Yet, he had told the same court how he escaped from Rwanda army to live in Uganda. A visibly unshaken Mutabazi responded to his lawyer: “God bless you.” Earlier, Mutabazi’s sister in law, Diane Gasengayire, implicated two of her blood sisters in forming a terror network. She also confessed that she obtained two bullets from a security person attached to KK Security firm which were later delivered to Mutabazi in Uganda. It is these two bullets used by Mutabazi to shoot at the door of his residence in Kampala before calling in police, claiming an attack by Rwandan agents. The Military Court today decided to visit the scene where the Mutabazi’s gun was buried for two years. Refugee status It should be recalled that after fleeing to Uganda in 2011, Mutabazi asked the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) office in Kampala to provide him protection as a refugee fleeing persecution and harassment in Rwanda. As is the custom, UNCHR Refugee Department took long to investigate Mutabazi’s case. It is at this time that Mutabazi hatched a plan to secure quick protection and refugee status from the Uganda government and UNCHR. Mutabazi would later send his brother Jackson Karemera to Rwanda to pick the gun he had hidden in Rwamagana. Karemera told a fully-packed court that after inspecting the gun, Mutabazi discovered the magazine had rusted. “The bullets couldn’t work due to long stay in disuse and lack of oiling,” said Karemera in a confession that left court dumbfounded. This confession was corroborated by Gasengayire who confirmed providing bullets to Mutabazi. The pistol used in the stage-managed shooting was later dropped in a pit latrine, according to Karemera. Mutabazi and others are being charged jointly and separately with terrorism, murder, conspiracy to murder, formation of an armed group, spreading rumours with intention to incite the public against the State, illegal possession of fire arms, forgery and desertion. Among the suspects charged include two members of FDLR closely linked with Rwanda National Congress (RNC) and eight former National University of Rwanda students recruited by RNC and suspected to be part of a terror cell of the FDLR. According to Defence and Military spokesperson, Brigadier General Joseph Nzabamwita, “Investigations as well as corroborated confessions from the suspects has revealed important evidence of an organised network of individuals in Rwanda and beyond responsible for grenade attacks in Kigali last year and plans to carry out further acts of terror.” Source chimpreports Sharing Twitter0 Facebook0 Google +0 Linkedin0 Email this article Print this article
Posted on: Wed, 29 Jan 2014 22:33:03 +0000
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