Police said they arrested the editor of the private weekly Umusingi, Gatera, in connection with a June lifestyle column that suggested men might regret marrying Tutsi women solely for their beauty. In October 2012, the Gasabo Intermediate Court formally charged him with sectarianism and divisionism, according to local journalists.
Gatera, who represented himself in court, apologized for the article but was convicted and sentenced to one year in prison, local journalists said. Gatera was being held at the Central Prison in the capital, Kigali.
The former chief editor of Umusingi, Nelson Gatsimbazi, fled the country in September 2011 in fear of reprisals related to the paper’s critical coverage, according to CPJ research.