YouTuber and Rwandan government critic jailed
A Rwandan YouTuber has been sentenced to seven years in prison for violating the country’s laws against genocide denial.
Rashid Hakuzimana, who was arrested in 2021, denied all allegations, which included inciting ethnic division and spreading false information by asserting that anyone who challenges President Paul Kagame during elections is imprisoned.
During the trial, he claimed that his arrest stemmed from criticism of the government expressed in his popular YouTube videos.
According to Rwandan law, it is illegal to deny, downplay, or attempt to justify the genocide, during which approximately 800,000 people were killed in 1994.
Ethnic Tutsis and politically moderate Hutus were specifically targeted in the 100-day massacre carried out by Hutu extremists.
Rights groups have accused the predominantly Tutsi Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) rebels, who ended the genocide, of killing thousands of Hutu people in retaliation as they seized power—an accusation denied by the RPF-led government.
The genocide remains a hugely sensitive issue in Rwanda and it is illegal to fuel any sort of division.
The judge who sentenced Hakuzimana on Tuesday said his remarks on YouTube, such as those suggesting that genocide orphans were not as well cared for as the children of senior government officials, amounted to fuelling division.
The YouTuber and government critic has attracted thousands of viewers on his Rashid TV channel.
The 56-year-old represented himself during the trial, but refused to mount a defence because he wanted to be referred to as a politician in court, not a YouTuber.
He also complained that he had spent three years in jail since his arrest.
Following his sentencing, Hakuzimana will serve four years in prison – as the three years already spent in prison will be taken into account.
He was also fined $700 (£500). It is not yet clear if he will appeal.
Human rights group have accused Kagame’s government of using the genocide denial legislation to crack down on dissent – an allegation the government denies.
Last year, a court extended a 15-year sentence by a further two years for another YouTuber found guilty for inciting violence, denigrating genocide memorials and spreading rumours. Yvonne Idamange had denied the charges during the trial in 2021, which she then boycotted.