Dieudonné Ishimwe, organizer of the Miss Rwanda beauty pageant, was sentenced Friday to five years in prison for rape and solicitation of sexual favors. However, he was acquitted of harassment. In December 2022, he was acquitted due to insufficient evidence. The prosecution appealed this decision.
This 36-year-old former musician, known as Prince Kid, was arrested in April 2022 on suspicion of “crimes related to sexual assault”, according to the Rwandan Investigation Bureau (RIB).
Absent during the reading of the judgment
A sentence “based on the fact that this is the first time that Ishimwe has been accused of a crime”, according to the verdict read by one of the three judges of a Kigali court while Dieudonné Ishimwe was absent. One of his lawyers, Emeline Nyembo, said her client had not yet decided whether he would appeal the decision.
Married since this year to a former Miss Rwanda, the organizer of the competition was also ordered to pay a fine of 2 million Rwandan francs, approximately 1,560 euros.
The 2022 edition of the Miss Rwanda pageant had been canceled following his arrest.