Kigali — The prosecution in the case of Innocent Irankunda, 24, who was falsely trying to acquire political asylum in Germany, yesterday requested court to hand him a 20 year jail sentence upon conviction.
The trial of Irankunda who got a fake visa to travel to Germany from Pastor Deus Sangwa, of Ministere d'Evangelisation Sans Frontieres (MIESF), commenced at Nyarugenge Intermediate Court.
After the court heard from both sides, the presiding Judge ruled that his pre-trial detention be read today while the verdict has been set for November 27.
Iradukunda is accused of revisionism and forgery. The prosecution says he was arrested with a forged Gacaca court arrest warrant.
The suspect was arrested by German police in Frankfurt while seeking asylum citing political persecution.
He reportedly told police in Frankfurt that former RPA soldiers had killed his parents in 1994 and yet Court heard that his mother is alive while his father died of malaria in 1992.
Irankunda pleaded guilty and apologised to the court.
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So it seems that there is a pipeline between Germany and Rwanda in which some facts are taken at face value. Of course, this pipeline could not have any problems with it so long as it serves the political interests of somebody outside of Germany. 20 years in prison for improprieties that a foreign government would have had jurisdiction for and did already in fact is, to a rational body politic, a sad statement about the prosecution in this case. It would be beneficial if those outside of Rwanda could put pressure on the government of Rwanda to re-think its decision to prosecute a person who has already suffered for his actions in another country. Germany has a lot to answer for in this case as well, considering its own policy of deportation delimits that person who is deported should not be in danger of imprisonment in his or her own country of origin upon return. No matter how somebody looks at this case, it is a blemish on the reputation of the government of Rwanda in the international community. Ad hoc ideas such as "falsely claiming asylum" are patently absurd. A claim for refugee status is either accepted or rejected. There is no evidence stated that the accused had been rejected in Germany. The deportation order is a separate legal process. His asylum case could still be under review in Germany for all the evidence that is given in the article. Only if the accused had made the claim in Rwanda itself would the court be able to make such a determination of it being 'false' , if, in fact, such a legal distinction already existed prior to the case itself. It is incredible to read that the prosecution has become experts in German immigration law. I do not doubt their ability to argue cases in Rwanda, but to invoke German immigration law seems, at best, a blemish on what a judge in any country with a legal tradition would deem admissible arguments. I urge all those outside of Rwanda to contact their departments of foreign affairs in order to end this saga of what reads like senseless subterfuge. Young people make mistakes such as listening to dream merchants selling a life elsewhere being a promised land. The accused paid for this mistake in Germany. To be imprisoned in Rwanda for something already not punishable by a prison sentence in Germany is beyond the pale. I shudder to think of how the accused can make sense of what has happened to him so far. To end this cycle of injustice, it would be a start to have the charges stayed and the accused allowed to resume his life in Rwanda, which would have been the case had the wishes of the German government been respected. To be a member of the international community, it is imperative that the government of Rwanda respect the rights of its partners in the worlds and the rights of its citizens. I am certain that these are fully within the capabilities of the government of Rwanda. I look forward to a change of outcome in this case, as it has already been a major disappointment to the interests of justice by any definition used in a forthright manner.
Thinking about revenge? Ask the Rwandan government how to go about it.
Revenge is for the weak. Innocent Irankunda need not be an example of senseless revenge.
Still not free, and I am still not pleased.
In most instances of injustice, there are many bystanders. I am saddened by the lack of response to this obvious case of a person's human rights being trampled on. We cannot be bystanders. Write the German Embassy in Kigali for starters, please. There is no justice, but without each other we are nowhere. Don't fall asleep on the couch now and forget about somebody we can help before the verdict is etched in stone.
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