VZCZCXYZ0017
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHLGB #0388/01 1141556
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 241556Z APR 07
FM AMEMBASSY KIGALI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 4065
INFO RUEHJB/AMEMBASSY BUJUMBURA 0047
RUEHDR/AMEMBASSY DAR ES SALAAM 0860
RUEHKM/AMEMBASSY KAMPALA 1584
RUEHKI/AMEMBASSY KINSHASA 0202
RUEHNR/AMEMBASSY NAIROBI 0844
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 0223

UNCLAS KIGALI 000388 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM RW
SUBJECT: JOURNALIST PLEADS GUILTY TO DIVISIONISM, RECEIVES 
ONE YEAR JAIL TERM 
 
REF: A. KIGALI 289 
     ¶B. KIGALI 142 
     ¶C. KIGALI 49 
     ¶D. 2006 KIGALI 1223 
 
¶1.  (SBU) On Friday, April 20, Agnes Nkusi-Uwimana, director 
of the Kinyarwanda-language newspaper "Umurabyo," received a 
one year jail term in a Kigali court, having on April 3 
pleaded guilty to various charges including divisionism, 
defamation, and passing a bad check.  Nkusi had been arrested 
in January for the publication of two articles, one in 
December which most observers believed minimized the 1994 
genocide, and another on January 1st which castigated Rwandan 
officials in explicit ethnic terms, drawing charges of 
divisionism.  The December 2006 article essentially equated 
1994 killings by the Hutu extremist Interahamwe militia with 
RPA revenge killings that occurred during its liberation of 
the country -- "It would be difficult to differentiate a Hutu 
Interahamwe from a Tutsi Interahamwe," read one subtitle. 
The January article, an open letter to the public, 
categorized senior government officials in derogatory ethnic 
terms, calling particular Hutu and Tutsi officials "dogs" and 
"prostitutes" (reftel C). 
 
¶2.  (SBU) Prominent independent journalists had encouraged an 
apology and retraction by Nkusi regarding her December 
article.  Although agreeing initially to this course of 
action, she then published the January "open letter," 
resulting in her arrest.  Upon advice of counsel, she 
subsequently pleaded guilty to all charges against her (note: 
the bad check charge stemmed from her borrowing of funds to 
start her publication, and then writing bad checks when the 
loans came due). 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Embassy staff met with Nkusi's attorney April 24 to 
discuss the case.  The attorney confirmed her guilty plea 
upon his recommendation  -- in his view she faced five years 
minimum prison time, with little prospect of a successful 
defense, if she had decided to try the case in court.  He had 
urged a one year suspended sentence, but the court imposed 
one year in jail.  The lawyer acknowledged that he had not 
been present in court when the sentence was formally imposed: 
"My work was done by that point," he said.  When asked the 
source of the "open letter" published on January 1 by 
Nkusi-Uwimana (received but not published by other local news 
outlets), he said its origin was unknown. His client did not 
admit to him how it came to be published in her newspaper, 
whether she had written it herself, found it on the internet, 
sent it along to other publications, or had actually received 
it from an outside source. The Committee to Protect 
Journalists on April 20 condemned her conviction for merely 
"publishing a reader's letter" (the CPJ made no mention of 
the December article).  Despite her denial, most local 
observers believe she did in fact author the January "open 
letter." 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Comment.  Agnes Nkusi-Uwimana contravened generally 
accepted standards of discourse in Rwanda.  The concerted 
attempt by independent journalists to encourage an apology, 
including Charles Kabonero of Rwanda Newsline and Umuseso, 
and Jean Bosco Gasasira of Umuvugiza, each themselves the 
subject of government ire from time to time, shows this 
clearly.  Wide-ranging criticisms of government policies are 
tolerated in Rwanda; explicit ethnic attacks and genocide 
denial/minimization are not.  Nkusi-Uwimana, an inexperienced 
journalist, reportedly ill, and chronically short of funds, 
went too far. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Comment continued.  However, we are concerned with 
the general tenor of press relations at this time.   So far 
this year, we have one journalist, Idesbald Byabuze, 
expelled to the Congo for an ethnic attack on the Kagame 
regime (reftel A),  another, Agnes Nkusi-Uwimana, just 
convicted of divisionism and defamation for 
denying/minimizing the genocide, one more, Jean Bosco 
Gasasira, subjected to a brutal physical attack by a 
demobilized soldier, for unknown but suspect reasons (reftel 
B), and now Bonaventure Bizumeryemyi of Umuco apparently 
facing divisionism and other charges for events that 
transpired some time ago, and that we understood to be no 
longer the subject of official interest.  We are preparing a 
press release for World Press Freedom Day, to express our 
hope that the gains in press freedom we recorded at the end 
of 2006 (reftel D) continue this year.  End comment. 
 
ARIETTI