Kigali, January 6, 2010
AfroAmerica Network has received information that Matthias Nyagasaza, a Rwandan political figure and a prominent businessman has died in a hospital in Gisenyi, Rwanda after a controversial release. He was 75 years old .
He had been held since October 2002 on genocide charges (read AfroAmerica Network article: “Kigali: Matthias Nyagasaza, Unity conference participant imprisoned; MDR threatened” of November 14, 2002 in African Great Lakes [ African Great Lakes News and Events Roundup in 2002: Rwanda, Burundi, Congo, Zaire, Uganda, Angola, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Tanzania] at http://www.afroamerica.net/Africa/Africa_Great_Lakes/Entries/2002/12/31_African_Great_Lakes_Events_Roundup__2002.html
He had been arrested, along with other businesspeople, after attending the Unity and Reconciliation Conference held in Kigali on October 26-28, 2002, despite assurances against any arrest and affidavits of good behavior and clean judicial record received from the Rwandan Ambassador in Nairobi, Seth Kamanzi, Gisenyi Prefect, Fidele Mitsindo and the Minister of Interior Security, Jean de Dieu Ntiruhungwa. His welfare went from bad to worse following constant mistreatment and lengthy court procedures. According to sources in Rwanda, he was abruptly released late last week to avoid accusations of assassination, when the government realized he was dying.
Matthias Nyagasaza was a brother-in-law of Colonel Bagosora, who is held in Arusha and the in-law of Colonel Sagatwa, who was assassinated in 1994, in a terrorist attack widely blamed on the military leaders of current Rwandan regime. Rwandan and Burundian presidents Juvenal Habyarimana and Cyprien Ntaryamira and their close advisers died in the same attack.
©AfroAmerica Network, 2010.
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