Nairobi, Kenya - The East African Court of Justice Friday faulted Rwanda for violating the rights of its citizen, Lieutenant-Colonel Rugigana Ngabo, a brother to the exiled General Faustin Nyamwasa, who was jailed in absentia for 24 years. Judges at the East African Court in Arusha, Tanzania, declared that the detention of Lt.-Col Ngabo was in breach of fundamental and operational principles of the East African Community (EAC). The Court ordered the Rwandan authorities to compensate the family of the former head of Rwandan military’s Engineering Regiment, for his arbitrary arrest and detention.
Lt.-Col. Ngabo has been held in custody since his arrest and state agents say his release would threaten national security and ongoing investigations.
The four-judge bench ordered the Rwandan authorities to pay for the costs of the arrest and detention. The soldier’s sister, Plaxeda Rugumba, filed the case.
It declared that the five-month detention of Lt.-Col. Ngabo was unlawful according to the laws of Rwanda.
“The country’s laws provide that any person arrested shall not be detained beyond 48 hours without being produced before a court of law,” the Judges affirmed.
“The First Instance Division of the Court said the act of detaining Lt.-Col. Ngabo from August 2010 to January 2011 offended articles 6(d) and 7(2) of the Treaty,” the EAC Court ruled, saying all countries in the region must observe good governance and the rule of law.
The ruling came a day after the EAC Summit, meeting in Bujumbura, declined an application by Sudan to join the regional bloc, citing Sudan’s failure to meet the cut for admission to the bloc.
Meanwhile, the Rwandan authorities opened the trial of the detained military officer on 28 November.
The military court martial - the Military High Court in Rwanda - declined his release, saying it would jeopardize investigations since he is facing serious criminal charges.
Rwandan authorities accuse him of aiding the former Rwandan Chief of General Staff, who quit in 2001, to ‘form a terrorist’ group, threatening state security, promoting ethnic divisions and insulting the person of the president.
The exiled Rwandan General was injured in South Africa after an attempted assassination which he blamed on the Rwandan authorities.
Military prosecutors allege Lt.-Col. Ngabo aided his brother, Gen. Nyamwasa, by recruiting demobilized soldiers into the Democratic Forces for the Liberation Rwanda (FDLR).
On Monday, the court ruled the case be heard in private. The officer protested the decision to hold a private hearing, saying: “Why don't you let the public know what crimes I am accused, why are you confusing the public. Who is threatened and what is that threat. We should not hide behind the prosecution’s desires.'
The Rwandan trial law says a case will be heard in public and can beheld in private due to the indisputable reason. The reason should also be explained beyond reasonable doubt.
Ngabo was previously arrested and held in prison for a year before his family was informed of his whereabouts.
The Court also dismissed an application made by the EAC Secretary-General Richard Sezibera, a Rwandan national, regarding his ‘purported failure’ to investigate Rwanda’s breach of the EAC Treaty as required by the same treaty.
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