Jean-Léonard Rugambage

Who is Jean-Léonard Rugambage?

Jean-Léonard Rugambage was a Rwandan journalist, acting editor of the newspaper Umuvugizi. He was shot dead in front of his home in Kigali on 24 June 2010.

The newspaper had recently been suspended by the government, but continued to publish articles online. Rugambage was "highly critical" of Present Paul Kagame's government. Shortly before being murdered, Rugambage had published an article on the attempted murder of former army chief Lieutenant-General Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa, another critic of Kagame's. As Rugambage's murder was one of several of Kagame's critics and opponents during the build-up to the 2010 presidential election, his colleagues suggested national security services could have been involved. Police, however, arrested two suspects, one of whom they stated was related to a person allegedly killed by Rugambage in 1994, but for whose death Rugambage had been acquitted by courts in 2006. United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for an investigation into the murders of several government opponents during the election campaign, including Rugambage's.