AfricaNews political desk with additional files from the M&G
An editor of an independent newspaper Agnes Uwimana is at the mercy of a Rwandan prosecutor who is pushing for a 33-year prison sentence, according to state radio on Thursday. She has been accused of denying the 1994 genocide and would know her fate on February 4 at the High Court.
Uwimana appeared on Wednesday before the country's High Court on charges of negating the 1994 genocide, defaming senior officials -- including President Paul Kagame -- and disturbing the peace, all through articles published last year, Radio Rwanda reported.
Augustin Nkusi, the prosecutor's representative said Umurabyo, a monthly publication, negated the genocide by publishing articles saying that the Hutu and the Tutsi simply massacred one another.
The prosecutor also asked for a 12-year prison term for another Umurabyo journalist Saidath Mukakibibi.
The two women were arrested in July 2010 and have been in detention ever since.
The Media High Council, a state media regulatory body, had issued several warnings to Uwimana prior to her arrest.
She had already served a one-year term for inciting ethnic hatred and defamation and had resumed publishing her paper after completing her sentence in early 2008.
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