A Rwandan court on Thursday sentenced a yachtswoman critical of President Paul Kagame’s rule to 15 years in prison for “inciting violence”.

Yvonne Idamange, 42 and mother of four, was not present in court in Kigali when the verdict was read. However, she was found guilty on six counts, including inciting violence and insurrection, denigration of genocide memorials, spreading rumors and assault.

The 42–year old woman was accused of having, on her YouTube channel “Idamange”, accused President Kagame and his government of having set up a dictatorship, of instrumentalizing the 1994 genocide without sufficiently helping the survivors, or of having turned the genocide memorials into tourist attractions.

Ms. Idamange, whose YouTube channel has 18,900 subscribers and whose videos are viewed an average of 100,000 times, presents herself as a survivor of the genocide. According to the United Nations, the massacre killed more than 800,000 people in Rwanda in 1994, mainly among the Tutsi minority.

A fine of $2,000

To add salt to injury, Ms. Idamange was also accused of having hit and injured a police officer during her arrest. As such, in addition to a 15-year sentence, the court also fined her the equivalent of $2,000 even though the prosecution earlier asked for 30 years in prison and a fine of $6,000.

Idamange had accused the court of bias and boycotted proceedings in June after her request for the trial to be broadcast online was rejected by the court.

Paul Kagame, since the end of the 1994 genocide, is regularly criticized for his attacks on freedom of expression and repression of the opposition.

In March, Human Rights Watch (HRW) expressed concern about the increasing arrests or prosecutions of those who criticize the Rwandan authorities on the Internet.

According to the NGO, at least eight people commenting online on public affairs – including the impact of strict anti-Covid measures on the poor – were threatened, arrested or prosecuted in 2020.

Threat on online critics

The HRW recalled threats made in 2019 by Kagame against those criticizing him online and the consequences they are likely to face.

“Those you hear talking on the internet, they are either in America, South Africa or France. And they think they are safe. They are far away, but they are close to the fire. The day they get closer, the fire will burn them”.
HRW

Most people believe freedom of speech in Rwanda is under threat. It can be recalled that a court in Rwanda earlier in September ruled that the man who inspired ‘Hotel Rwanda’, Paul Rusesabagina, was guilty of terror-related offenses. Rusesabagina boycotted the announcement after declaring he didn’t expect justice in a trial he called a “sham”.

He has so far been found guilty of the formation of an illegal armed group and membership in a terrorist group. Following recent arrests, there were several comments on social media from across the world on the state of justice in Rwanda. “In Rwanda everyone is guilty when the state says he/she opposes it”, said Jane Nakure on YouTube following one of the verdicts.