A Rwandan YouTuber, Rashid Hakuzimana, has been sentenced to seven years in prison for violating Rwanda’s laws on genocide denial.
Arrested in 2021, Hakuzimana faced multiple charges, including inciting ethnic division and spreading false information.
He claimed the real reason for his arrest was his criticism of the government, particularly for stating that anyone challenging President Paul Kagame in elections risks imprisonment.
Hakuzimana’s remarks in his popular YouTube videos, such as alleging that genocide orphans were less supported compared to children of senior government officials, were deemed to have fueled division. Under Rwandan law, denying, downplaying, or justifying the 1994 genocide, which saw the massacre of around 800,000 people, mostly ethnic Tutsis, is a serious crime.
Throughout his trial, Hakuzimana, who represented himself, refused to mount a defense, insisting that he be addressed as a politician rather than a YouTuber. He also protested having spent three years in jail before sentencing. The judge ruled that these three years would count toward his sentence, leaving him with four more years to serve. He was also fined $700.
Rwanda’s genocide remains a sensitive and tightly regulated issue. While human rights groups have accused the government of using genocide denial laws to silence critics, the Rwandan government denies these claims. Hakuzimana’s case echoes that of Yvonne Idamange, another YouTuber whose sentence was extended last year after she was found guilty of inciting violence and denigrating genocide memorials.
