Former Presidential Guard Chief Who Once Protected Kagame Dies Behind Bars After 12 Years in Rwandan Custody

Tom Byabagamba, the former commander of Rwanda's presidential guard who spent more than a decade in prison following a controversial prosecution, has died in custody at the age of 59, according to a BBC report published Wednesday.

The colonel, whose career once included serving as a personal bodyguard to President Paul Kagame, had been held since his arrest in 2014 — twelve years without regaining his freedom before his death behind bars.

His family remains in the dark about what killed him. David Himbara, the deceased officer's brother, told the BBC's Great Lakes service that relatives could not determine the cause because "no-one was allowed to see him in all these years," underscoring the isolation that defined his final years of detention.

Byabagamba was taken into custody alongside Frank Rusagara, a retired brigadier-general who was married to his sister. Both men faced charges of "spreading rumours" and damaging the reputation of Rwanda and its leadership — accusations that human rights organisations viewed as politically motivated rather than criminal.

A military court delivered its verdict in 2016, sentencing Byabagamba to 21 years in prison. An appeals process later trimmed the term to 15 years. Throughout the proceedings, the colonel insisted he was innocent, maintaining that the case built against him had been invented.

Rusagara, who had previously served as secretary-general of the defence ministry, received an even harsher penalty: two decades in prison. He never completed it. The retired general died inside the prison system in March of last year, becoming the second prominent detainee in the family circle to perish in state custody.

At the time of Rusagara's death, Human Rights Watch described the passing as "the lonely death of a general," observing that his relatives had not heard from him — not even by phone — since 2014, shortly before he was detained. Prison authorities told the family that cancer had claimed his life, according to the rights group.

Both convictions rested on legal proceedings that fell far short of fair-trial standards, HRW has argued, citing grave claims of torture and manipulation of witnesses during the process. Freedom Now, another advocacy organisation, condemned the imprisonment as arbitrary and incompatible with international law.

The twin cases have long been cited by campaigners as emblematic of a wider pattern. Rights groups have repeatedly charged that Kagame's administration suppresses political dissent at home and pursues critics beyond Rwanda's borders, leaving little space for independent voices.

For Byabagamba's relatives, the questions left unanswered are deeply personal. Cut off from visits for the entirety of his incarceration, they learned of his death only after twelve years of separation, still without any official explanation of how he died.

The colonel is survived by his wife and their two sons, who now join Rusagara's family in mourning a relative who entered prison in 2014 and never walked out.

Their deaths, campaigners say, close a chapter on one of the most closely watched prosecutions of former insiders within Rwanda's security establishment — but raise fresh concerns about accountability for how political detainees are treated in the country's prisons.

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