Aimable Karasira Uzaramba, a YouTube political commentator, was arrested in 2021. As of late 2024, he remained in prison, on trial on charges of genocide denial, genocide justification, inciting divisions, and illicit enrichment. Karasira’s lawyers have argued that he is not fit to stand trial because of mental illness. Karasira has alleged that he was mistreated, beaten, and denied medical care in prison.
In 2011, Karasira launched the YouTube channel Ukuri Mbona (The Truth as I See It) and had published over 200 videos, including political commentary, with about 63,000 subscribers, at the time of his arrest, according to CPJ’s review.
On May 31, 2021, Rwanda Investigation Bureau officers arrested Karasira for the crimes of denying and justifying Rwanda’s 1994 genocide and of inciting division in his social media commentary, the law enforcement agency said.
In July 2021, Kigali’s Nyarugenge Intermediate Court charged Karasira, who is Tutsi, with denial of the genocide, justification of the genocide, and instigating divisions, according to news reports and court documents reviewed by CPJ. These crimes are punishable by up to seven years in prison each and fines of up to 1 million Rwandan francs (US$800), under the Law on Genocide Ideology and penal code.
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 that during a 2021 search of Karasira’s residence they had found over US$10,000, which he had been unable to account for.
Rwanda’s genocide laws aim to prevent hate speech, which played a significant role in the 1994 genocide, when 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed. The laws have been criticized by human rights and free speech advocates as being so broad as to stifle freedom of expression.
Prosecutors accused Karasira of saying that the genocide was not planned — a crime under the genocide law — but that it was an act of self-defense by the Hutu government in response to the rebel Rwandan Patriotic Front’s (RPF) 1990 invasion, according to news reports and court documents reviewed by CPJ.
The genocide began in April 1994 when a plane carrying President Juvénal Habyarimana was shot down and ended 100 days later when the RPF took control of the capital, 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 ruling 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 have consistently said that his judgment was compromised by mental illness when he made the videos and requested that he be freed on bail to receive treatment, according to two people familiar with the case and court documents. Since 2021, the court has ordered three different medical examinations of Karasira, which gave differing views. The most recent, in June 2023, said he 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.
In a November 2022 email to CPJ, the Ministry of Justice said that the cases against Karasira and other detained journalists in Rwanda were “conducted in full accordance” with the law and that none of their “offenses related to their purported journalistic activities.” The ministry said Karasira had not sought remedy from the courts for his alleged ill-treatment.
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 of Karasira’s lawyers withdrew from the case on unclear grounds and Karasira requested the court release funds held as evidence to pay new lawyers.
The case was adjourned to December 2024, according to the BBC and a third person familiar with the case who spoke to CPJ on condition of anonymity, citing safety concerns.
As of late 2024, the Ministry of Justice and the Rwanda Correctional Service had yet to respond to emails from CPJ, which included queries on allegations that Karasira had been tortured.