Woman in the dock on treason charges
Publish date: 27 March 2017
Issue Number: 669
Diary: IBA Legalbrief Africa
Category: General
The pregnant Rwandan-British wife of an exiled opposition official has appeared in a Kigali court accused of seeking to form an armed group and revealing state secrets. Violette Uwamahoro, who moved to the UK in 2004, travelled to Rwanda for her father's funeral and then disappeared on 14 February. A report on the eNCA site notes that Uwamahoro is charged with Kigali policeman Jean-Pierre Shumbusho for allegedly sending him WhatsApp messages asking him to ‘go to Uganda to form an armed group to attack Rwanda’. Shumbusho confessed to the charge while Uwamahoro labelled it a lie, according to the report which quotes her as saying: ‘Yes we used to chat but I didn't talk to him about anything to do with national security. We only discussed family matters.’
