The former state minister in charge of culture Edouard Bamporiki on Monday requested court to reduce a 4-year jail term that he was given in September and also appealed for the withdrawal of abuse of authority charge.
Explaining the basis of the defendant’s appeal, his lawyer Jean-Baptiste Habyarimana said that their appeal was based on three things which is requesting the withdraw of the charge of abusing authority given to him by the law, reduction of Rwf 60 million fine and getting a suspended sentence for the charge of fraudulent acquisition of another person’s property.
Habyarimana pointed out that the reason they are requesting the charge to be removed is because the prosecution failed to explain how he committed it. For instance, he said that the prosecutors didn’t explain clearly how Bamporiki used his position to bail out his friend’s wife among others.
In addition, he said that the fine of Rwf60 million is not justifiable saying that based on the nature of the crimes as well as what the law provides, the fine should have been Rwf30 million instead.
Furthermore, Habyarimana said that they are requesting for two to three years sentence based on what the law provides on the fraudulent acquisition of another person’s property charge and a suspended sentence on some charges so that he can take care of his wife who has been sick since last year.
However, the prosecution also appealed the first verdict rendered by the court decision and requested for more than the four years he was given. Prosecution had sought a 20-year sentence and a fine of Rwf200m.
Initially, Nyarugenge Intermediate Court handed him a four-year jail sentence and a fine of Rwf60 million in September after convicting him of two counts of fraudulent acquisition of another person’s property and abusing the authority given to him by the law.
