Two Burundians beg for asylum as they plead guilty to terrorism charges in Rwanda
Kigali, Rwanda (PANA) -Two Burundian nationals, currently standing trial on terrorism-related charges, on Monday made a public appeal to the military court in Kigali, begging to be granted asylum instead of returning them back to their home country where they face being “persecuted or killed".
One of the Burundian nationals, identified as Jean Marie Nsabimana and who is part of a group of 25 fighters, which also include Rwandans, Ugandans, begged the presiding judge of the Military court, Charles Madudu, to analyse their ‘case’ in the hope they would be granted political asylum in case their provisional release would been granted.
"‘I beg relevant authorities [in Rwanda] to look at my case, because when I return to Burundi I will be immediately killed," the defendant told the military court in Kigali.
Nsabimana who was enrolled to join the suspected Rwandan terrorist group led by South Africa-based fugitive Kayumba Nyamwasa, another renegade officer of the Rwandan army currently established in South Africa, also told the court that he managed to join the insurgency movement in Eastern DR Congo with the help and assistance from some senior officers from the Burundian army in Bujumbura.
This revelation comes after a military prosecutor in Kigali accused the group, made up of alleged members of the Rwanda National Congress, including former army officers, of treason while operating from Uganda and Burundi.
The suspects were charged on four counts, including belonging to an illegal armed outfit, treason, forming an illegal army, and plotting with foreign countries to destabilize Rwanda.
During the pre-trial hearing, prosecution said that all the suspects were facilitated mainly by Uganda and Burundi to join the ‘P5’ outfit whose activities are detailed in a report by the UN Group of Experts published in December last year.
P5 comprises the Amahoro People’s Congress (AMAHORO-PC), the Forces Démocratiques Unifées-Inkingi (FDU INKINGI), the People’s Defence Pact-Imanzi (PDP-IMANZI), the Social Party-Imberakuri (PS IMBERAKURI) and the Rwanda National Congress (RNC).
Nyamwasa is a former head of the Rwandan military who was in 2011 sentenced in absentia to 24 years in prison after he was convicted of multiple charges, including terrorism, genocide denial and crimes against humanity.
His presence in South Africa has been at the heart of troubled relations between Pretoria and Kigali with the latter keen on his extradition to Rwanda.
-0- PANA TWA/VAO 21Oct2019
