JOURNALIST PLEADS GUILTY TO DIVISIONISM, RECEIVES

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