Media Defence is deeply concerned by the death of Rwandan YouTuber and former university lecturer Aimable Karasira Uzaramba, who died under suspicious circumstances on 7 May 2026 — the day of his scheduled release following a five-year sentence.
The Rwanda Correctional Service (RCS) stated that Karasira died at Nyarugenge hospital in Kigali after overdosing on prescribed medication following the completion of his pre-release procedures, and that a post-mortem report is pending.
Karasira was an ethnic Tutsi who lost family members in the 1994 genocide, in which hundreds of thousands of Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed. Through his YouTube channel, Ukuri Mbona (The Truth as I See It), he openly expressed views critical of the Rwandan government and its policies, including the government’s official narrative of the genocide, forced evictions and sportswashing.
He was arrested in May 2021 and faced charges of genocide denial, genocide justification, causing unrest, and inciting divisions. In September 2025, the High Court dismissed or acquitted him on all but the last charge, sentencing him to five years, the bulk of which he had already served in pre-trial detention.
Karasira’s time in custody was marked by serious welfare concerns. He reported physical abuse, sleep deprivation, and the withholding of medical care, and his lawyers raised repeated concerns about his mental health and fitness to stand trial.
His situation was further complicated by the fact that prosecutors had filed an appeal seeking to overturn his acquittals and impose a 30-year sentence, making his scheduled release a moment of particular significance.
Rwanda has a well-documented record of extrajudicial killings of critics and serious constraints on press freedom. It ranked as the second worst jailer of journalists in sub-Saharan Africa in CPJ’s most recent annual prison census.
Media Defence calls for an independent, credible and expedited investigation into the circumstances of Karasira’s death.
