Rwanda’s National Public Prosecution Authority (NPPA) has said that singer Kizito Mihigo, who was found dead in a Police cell on February 17, 2020 committed suicide.
Mihigo was arrested on Friday, February 14 – two years after he had been sentenced to 10 years on various cases – by the Rwanda Investigation Bureau (RIB) over suspected attempt to join armed militia groups meant to destabilise the country as well as corruption cases.
He was allegedly trying to escape the country through the porous border in Nyaruguru district, Southern Rwanda last Friday, RIB said of the man who received a Presidential commutation in September 2018 for the remainder of his 10-year jail term.
Rwanda National Police issued a statement to announce Mihigo’s death inside his cell at Remera Police Station, Gasabo District, Kigali.
But human rights agencies called on the tiny East African nation to allow an impartial inquiry and remove doubts about the circumstances under which Mihigo died, a move that was slammed by RIB.
Ms Marie Michelle Umuhoza, RIB spokesperson said Rwanda is a sovereign country and the investigations are being carried out in private as the law on criminal procedure requires.
On Wednesday, NPPA released a statement; saying Kizito’s ‘body was found dangling from a metal window frame with a bedsheet around his neck’.
“The autopsy report from the Rwanda Forensic Laboratory determined the cause of death as asphyxia/hypoxia, with the hanging as the most probable cause,” the statement reads in part.
Following the careful analysis of the report, NPPA finds that Mr kizito Mihigo’s death resulted from suicide by hanging and further finds no basis for criminal charges.”
Mihigo was laid to rest on Saturday, February 22, 2020.
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