YouTuber Aimable Karasira Uzaramba died on May 6, 2026, the day of his scheduled release from prison, following the completion of his five-year sentence on charges of inciting division, according to the Rwanda Correctional Service (RCS).
In the May 7 statement, the RCS said 48-year-old Karasira died at Nyarugenge hospital in the capital, Kigali, after overdosing on his prescribed medication and that it was awaiting a post-mortem report.
An RCS spokesperson told The New Times newspaper and the local broadcaster TV One that Karasira ingested the medication after completing pre-release procedures from prison and that he was taken to the hospital where he died around midnight.
On May 31, 2021, Rwanda Investigation Bureau officers arrested Karasira for the crimes of denying and justifying the genocide and of inciting division in his online commentary, the law enforcement agency said.
A former university lecturer, Karasira had published over 200 videos on his YouTube channel, Ukuri Mbona (The Truth as I See it) since its launch in 2011, including political commentary, according to CPJ’s review.
He also frequently appeared on other YouTube channels, where he criticized the government and official narratives of the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Karasira was an ethnic Tutsi who lost relatives in the genocide, in which at least 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed.
In July 2021, Kigali’s Nyarugenge Intermediate Court charged Karasira with denial of the genocide, justification of the genocide, causing public unrest, and instigating divisions, according to court documents, reviewed by CPJ.
In June 2023, prosecutors introduced an additional charge of illicit enrichment and embezzlement, and in November 2023, added the charge of money laundering. Prosecutors said they found over US$10,000 in Karasira’s residence in 2021, which he was unable to account for.
Rwanda’s genocide laws aim to prevent hate speech, which played a significant role in the April 1994 genocide. The broad laws have been criticized by human rights and free speech advocates as stifling freedom of expression.
Prosecutors accused Karasira of saying that the genocide was not planned — a crime under the genocide law — but an act of self-defense by the Hutu government in response to the rebel Rwandan Patriotic Front’s (RPF) 1990 invasion, according to court documents reviewed by CPJ.
The genocide began when a plane carrying President Juvénal Habyarimana was shot down and ended 100 days later when the RPF took control of Kigali and formed a political party, which continues to rule Rwanda.
In court documents, reviewed by CPJ, prosecutors cited three videos published in 2021: a May 15 video on Pax TV, a May 20 video on Ukuri Mbona, and a May 23 video on Umurabyo Online TV, without providing links. In 2021, CPJ reviewed three videos on these YouTube channels, corresponding to these dates, in which Karasira’s comments echoed the prosecution’s allegations.
Karasira expressed support for the political opposition and hatred of President Paul Kagame and the RPF, whose forces he accused of killing his parents in 1994. He also claimed that gacaca courts — community-based courts that tried more than 1 million people after the genocide — had convicted people for crimes they did not commit. In addition, Karasira accused authorities of conflating critical political opinions with genocide ideology and of carrying out political assassinations.
Karasira’s defense team repeatedly said that his judgment was compromised by mental illness when he made the videos and requested he be freed on bail to receive treatment, according to court documents. The court ordered three medical examinations, which gave differing views. The third, in June 2023, said Karasira was fit to stand trial.
In 2022, Karasira told the court that prison officials were beating him, depriving him of sleep, and denying him adequate food and treatment for his diabetes and mental illness. Karasira’s defense said prison officials were interfering in confidential client-lawyer communications, according to court transcripts, reviewed by CPJ.
Despite the defense’s objections, Karasira’s trial began on November 23, 2023, in the High Court’s cross border crime chamber. In 2024, both Karasira’s lawyers withdrew from the case on unclear grounds.
In hearings between January and July 2025, Karasira denied the charges against him, arguing that the prosecution had misunderstood his commentary, and said he had earned the money through YouTube payments, the BBC reported. At the trial’s conclusion, Karasira apologized to anyone who may have been hurt by his words and the prosecution asked the court to issue a 30-year sentence, according to media reports.
On September 30, 2025, the court dismissed the charges of illicit enrichment and embezzlement, acquitted Karasira of genocide denial, genocide justification, and causing unrest but convicted him of inciting divisions, with a five-year sentence, according to news reports and court documents, reviewed by CPJ.
At the time of his death, Karasira was one of five journalists, four of them YouTubers, in prison in Rwanda, which has a history of unlawful killings, transnational repression, and restrictions on media freedom.
In a November 2022 email to CPJ, the Ministry of Justice that the cases against Karasira and other detained journalists were “conducted in full accordance” with the law and none of their “offenses related to their purported journalistic activities.” It said Karasira had not sought remedy from the courts for his alleged ill-treatment.
As of late 2025, the Ministry of Justice had yet to respond to subsequent emails from CPJ, which included queries on allegations that Karasira had been tortured.
CPJ’s May 7, 2026, requests for comment via phone, email, and messaging app to the Rwanda Correctional Service were unanswered.