COMMON CRIMES AND

ECONOMIC CRIMES

ACADEMIC YEAR 2022-2023

Tom Mulisa
• CONSTITUTIONAL ISSUES
• Students must read these Supreme Court cases and try to understand why the
Court did or did not declare certain criminal provisions unconstitutional:
1. (1)  MURORUNKWERE S v The State, SC, RS/Inconst/Pén.0001/08/CS
(26/07/2008)
2. (2)  KABASINGA F v The State, SC, RS/INCONST/SPEC 00003/2019/SC
(4/12/2019).
3. (3)  KABASINGA F and NIYOMUGABO N v The State, SC, RS/INCONST/SPEC
4. 00005/2020/CS (12/02/2021)
5. (4)  MUGISHA R s The State, SC, N°RS/INCONST/SPEC 00002/ 2018/SC
6. RS/INCONST/SPEC 00002/2018/SC (24/04/2019)
• 6.2. RETRACTED CONFESSIONS
1. (1)  DUSABIMANA J v NPPA, SC, RPAA 0066/15/CS (04/01/2019)
2. (2)  MUKESHIMANA v NPPA, CA, RPAA 00053/2019/CA (27/04/2020)
•
 Cases
• 6.3. MITIGATING CIRCUMSTANCES
1.(1)  SHAKABATENDA JD v NPPA, CA, RPAA 00039/2021/CA (2/7/2021)
2.(2)  NZAFASHWANAYO JDD v NPPA, CA, RPAA 00032/2019/CA (28/02/2020)
3.(3)  IYAKAREMYE J M V v NPPA, HC, RPA 00009/2020/HC/MUS (13/08/2021)
4.(4)  MUTIBAGIRWA A, IYAKAREMYE J M V, Me UWIMANA M G v NPPA, HC,
5.RPA/ECON 00009/2020/HC/MUS (13/08/2021)
6.(5)  MUKANYAMIBWA v NPPA, HC, RPA 00061/2021/HC/KIG (29/09/2022)
• 3
• (6) NPPA v NYIRABAZIFASHA E, TB GISENYI, RP 00813/2021/TB/GI (21/11/2021)
• 6.4. QUALIFICATION OF OFFENCES
• John Edward Kienapple vs The Queen [1975] 1 R.C.S, 729
5.6.5.  MISTAKE OF FACT
6.NPPA v BIKORIMANA RP 00445/2018/TGI/MUS (08/05/2019)
7.6.6.  BEST INTERESTS OF THE CHILD
8.NZERI JDD v NPPA, HC, RPA 00388/2020/HC/KIG (17/03/2022)
 Elements of crime
WATCH VIDEOS: ELEMENTS OF CRIMES
Elements of Crime (Mens Rea, Actus Reus)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgE1rp8Q2LY&t=34s
Actus Reus and Mens Rea - Level Justice
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qn-_EYInCXM
Actus Reus: The Physical Act of Committing a Crime
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2FFApuOnXY
Actus Reus
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CllG65ILS9c&t=100s
Criminal Law Video Presentation 2 Actus Reus
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z62LBLyut7Q
1 Criminal Law - Omissions
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rg2ftIJWR_A
Mens rea
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTGX5hDwCqI&t=12s
12 - Intention - Direct and Oblique
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ht1OzsETNz8&t=20s
Criminal Law Video 7 - Murder - Intentional Killing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WYFj7bp_UI
CCCCCCCCCC

Specific vs. General Intent

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Whxcz_IhHAc
                                                                                                                                                                         
                                                                
22
General Intent versus Specific Intent
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aotacUXRFIs
Criminal Law Video Presentation 5 Mistake of Fact and Law
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EY1hteC5me0&t=13s
Mistake of Fact and Mistake of Law Defenses
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jGrgZkgp4E
What is negligence?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnPakaCc-Ys
The Reasonable Person Standard
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2sL-PYrxAo&t=62s
The Reasonable Person Standard
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8-E_jIJgX0
What is the crime of attempt?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pL3CfTTpcaY
 FELONY
• FELONY MURDER DOCTRINE What is the felony murder rule?
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1-n32XYV3k&t=5s
• Criminal Video Presentation 9 - Felony Murder
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlfHKH8xhbI
• Felony Murder Rule explained- Criminal Law
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPxEDaLBs6o
•  MENS REA
Mens Rea: The Criminal State of Mind
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzFaeOcAqX4
• mens rea
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLJP4jqPhPI
• Mens Rea for Murder | Criminal Law
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y22vQPPZS0k
•  WILLFUL BLINDNESS Mens Rea 4 Wilful Blindness
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1Q7eJJ-2Ko
 CONT
• The Accidental Felon: Challenging the Expansion of the Willful Blindness Doctrine
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zPJo3aBH78
•  FIRST DEGREE, SECOND DEGREE MURDER AND MANSLAUDER Explained: 1st degree
murder, 2nd degree murder, and manslaughter?
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NuyhxlKdp54
• Jodi Arias Found Guilty of First-Degree Murder
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UxNwN8Ahj8
•  STRICT LIABILITY
What is a strict liability crime?
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfh9pr2seBs
• Criminal Law Strict Liability
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-r4L_bOkLNg
•  DEFENCES IN CRIMINAL LAW Criminal Defence - Criminal Law
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5O66_GD7Gc
• Duress - Criminal Law
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjFbdKyqDTA&list=PL30C13C91CFFEF EA6&index=19
 CONT

• Duress and necessity summary

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjFbdKyqDTA&list=PL30C13C91CFFEF EA6&index=19
• Necessity
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjFbdKyqDTA&list=PL30C13C91CFFEF EA6&index=19
• Defence of Necessity
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjFbdKyqDTA&list=PL30C13C91CFFEF EA6&index=19
• Criminal Law Defences - Necessity
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjFbdKyqDTA&list=PL30C13C91CFFEF EA6&index=19
• The Lifeboat Case (Lecture 1 & 2)
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjFbdKyqDTA&list=PL30C13C91CFFEF EA6&index=19
• Intoxication defence summary
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjFbdKyqDTA&list=PL30C13C91CFFEF EA6&index=19
•  ACCOMPLICE LIABILITY
Criminal Law Video Presentation 10- Accomplice Liability
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOA88gETg_Q
• Accomplice Liability
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnfjqLICAbE
DEFINITION OF COMMON CRIMES
• Criminal law specifies the prohibited conduct
and its punishment. Specific criminal law is a
discipline of Criminal law whose aims is the
study of every offence and its specific legal
regime. It is therefore about specifying the
definition of every offence, its specific
constitutive elements, its repressive regime
(punishment).
 PERSON PROTECTED
• The existence of any Society requires that
persons be protected against all forms of
aggressions. The most serious aggression
against which individuals must be protected
from include any threat against life, bodily and
mental integrity. It is there about a
fundamental value that must absolutely be
protected.
 MORAL PROTECTION
• Furthermore the human being without
morality would be only a robot, useless to
himself and to the society. A human being
therefore needs also moral values for his/her
existence and for the survival of the society.
So, human beings must be protected against
aggressions that harm his/her private life, to
his/her honour and to his liberty, values etc.
 CONTENT OF THE COURSE
• Offences against persons
• Offences against property
• Offences against the state
 OBJECTIVES OF THE COURSES
• To give the student a firsthand knowledge of the legal
framework in criminal law.
• At the end of the course, the student should be able to:
• Define special criminal law and compare it to the other
branches of public law;
• Determine the element of an offence in general
• Determine the principles applicable in the qualification
of offences
• Be able to determine the specific elements of the main
offences of the Rwandan Penal Code (RPC).
 DEFINITION OF LAW
• Law can be defined as set of rules that guides
our conduct in society and is enforceable
through public agencies such (i.e the police,
the prosecution, the courts). Broadly, laws
govern/regulate the relationship between
the state and its citizens and between one
citizen and another.
 BRANCHES OF LAW
• The main branches of Law are: Public Law and
Private Law.
 PUBLIC LAW
• Public law is concerned with the relationship
between the states and international
organisations (International public law) or
between a state and its citizens (internal public
law).
• Public law comprises several specialist areas
such as: Constitutional Law, Administrative
Law, Criminal Law and International Criminal
Law.
 CONSTITUTIONAL LAW
• It covers matters as the functioning of the
central and local government (known as the
legislative power), the functioning of the
legislative power (parliament) and the
judiciary (courts) as well as the civil liberties of
individual citizens.
 ADMINISTRATIVE LAW
• It governs the activities of the administrative
agencies of the government. (Ministries,
Provinces, Districts etc...)
 CRIMINAL LAW
• It deals with the investigation, the prosecution
and the punishment of offences.
• Criminal law may be subdivided in general
criminal law, specific criminal law, criminal
procedure and penology. In this course,
emphasize is put on general criminal law and
special criminal law.
 PURPOSE OF CRIMINAL LAW
• The criminal law is concerned with forbidding
certain forms of wrongful conduct and
punishing those who engage in the prohibited
acts. Criminal proceedings are normally
brought in the name of the people and the
responsibility for the process is under the
direction of the Public Prosecution Authority
 CRIMINAL PROCESS
• The consequences of being found guilty are so
serious that the standard of proof is higher than
in civil cases: the allegations of criminal conduct
must be proved beyond a reasonable doubt. If
the prosecution is successful, the defendant is
found guilty (convicted) and may be punished by
the courts. Punishments available to the court
include imprisonment, fines, or community
services .If the prosecution is unsuccessful, the
defendant is found not guilty (acquitted).
 GENERAL CRIMINAL LAW
• General criminal law is about rules common
to all offences such the constitutive elements
of the offence , general principles governing
the set of offences( definition of an offence,
the principle of legality, the interpretation of
criminal laws, application of the laws, category
of offences, conspiracy, the attempt, the
exemption of criminal responsibility/liability.
 SPECIFIC CRIMES
• Specific criminal law is therefore defined as a
branch of criminal law which studies in a
concrete and particular manner, each offence
in précising its constitutive elements as well
as the modalities of punishment.
• Broadly, it is a branch of criminal law that
deals with rules applicable to offences and
their punishments in general.
 CIVIL OR PRIVATE LAW
• The civil law deals with the private rights and
obligations which arise between individuals.
The purpose of the civil action is to remedy
the wrong that has been suffered.
Enforcement of the civil law is the
responsibility of the individual who has been
wronged; the state’s role is to provide the
procedure and the courts necessary to resolve
the dispute
 CIVIL PROCESS
• In civil proceedings a claimant sues a defendant in
the civil courts. The claimant will be successful if he
can prove his case on the balance of probabilities,
i.e. the evidence weighs more in favour of the
claimant than the defendant. If the claimant wins his
action, the defendant is said to be liable and the
court will order an appropriate remedy, such as
damages (financial compensation) or an injunction
(an order to do or not do something). If the claimant
is not successful, the defendant is found not liable.
DISTINCTION BETWEEN CIVIL AND CRIMINAL
LAW
• The distinction between criminal and civil law
does not depend on the nature of the
wrongful act, because the same act may give
rise to both civil and criminal proceedings.
 DEFINITION OF AN OFFENCE
• An offence is defined as a prohibited act or an
omission which manifests itself as a breach of
the public order and which the law sanctions
by a punishment/penalty (see art 2 RPC).
CONSTITUTIVE ELEMENTS OF AN OFFENCE

• A person cannot usually be found guilty of a

criminal offence unless three elements are
present: an actus reus or guilty act, a mens rea or
guilty mind and a legal provision. The prosecution
has to prove all these elements so that the jury is
satisfied beyond reasonable doubt of their
existence. If this is not done, the accused will be
acquitted as it is the principle that all persons are
presumed innocent until proven guilty.
Actus reus or guilty act (material element)

• According to the doctrine, it is impossible to

prosecute a person who has the intention of
committing an offence without showing a
visible sign of committing it. Actually, the
intention must be materialized by an objective
fact: it what it is called actus reus or guilty act.
 MATERIAL ELEMENT
• The act has to be objectively accomplished in order to
constitute an offence. The problem is to determine the
moment when the act is considered as objectively
accomplished. In fact, the individual who wants to commit
an offence passes through several stages that may be called
the crime path (iter criminis): at the beginning, there is a
simple intention to commit an offence which may be
followed by a final decision commit an offence. On this
stage, one can begin to collect the material to be used in
the commission of the offence (i.e to buy a machete), and
then begin the execution the act that constitute an offence.
 ATTEMPT TO COMMIT AN OFFENCE
• In terms of article 21 of RPC, an attempt to commit an
offence is punishable when the plan to commit an
offence has been demonstrated by observable and
unequivocal acts constituting the beginning of the
offence meant to enable the commission and that were
suspended or failed in their purpose only because of
circumstances beyond the offender’s control. Attempt
to commit petty offences are not punishable but
attempts to commit felonies and misdemeanours are
regarded as felonies and misdemeanours.
 Offence of action/commission
• In most cases the guilty act exist when there is
a positive act which consist in doing what is
prohibited by the law (example: to kill a
human being, to make an untrue statement
when one is on oath).
 Offence of omission
• Sometimes, the material element exists in a
negative act that consists in not accomplishing
what the law commands in the public interest
(example to assist a person in danger) or in
creating a dangerous situation and not doing
anything to prevent the relevant harm
occurring.
 Mens rea or guilty mind (intentional or
moral element)
• The mens rea or guilty mind refers to state of
mind of the person when committing a
crime/an offence.
• There are three main states, which separately
or together can constitute the necessary mens
rea of a criminal offence: intention,
recklessness, failure to observe rules.
 INTENTION
• This refers to what the defendant was
intending at the time of the offence rather
than what a reasonable person would have
intended in the same circumstances. On the
other hand the special criminal intention is the
will to achieve the result that the lawmaker
wanted to prohibit by incriminating the
behaviour.
 Recklessness
• He/she does an act which in fact creates a
serious risk that property would be destroyed or
damaged and
• Either (a) when he/she does the act he/she has
not given any thought to the possibility of being
there any such risk, and the risk was obvious; or
• Has recognised that there is was some risk of
that kind involved and has nonetheless gone on
to do it.
 Failure to observe rules
• This concerns a person who exercises an activity
without respecting the objective rules provided for
its exercise (example: driving a car without a driving
licence).
• However any person who through clumsiness
(maladresse), inattention, negligence, failure to
observe the rules or any lack of precaution and
foresight, causes harm but with no intent to
endanger the life of a person shall be guilty of
homicide or unintentional bodily injury.
The legal provision (legal element)
• This is the legal text that describes a conduct and
provides a penalty. This comes from the principle of
legality of offences and penalties .According to that
principle, there is no offence if it is not provided for
by the law (NULLUM CRIMEN NULLA POENA SINE
LEGE). This principle is consecrated by article 3 of
the RPC which provides that’’ a person shall not be
punished on account of an act or omission that did
not constitute an offence at the time of commission
under national or international law.
 SOURCES OF LAW
• With the principle ‘Nullum crimen nulla poena
sine lege’, the principal source of Special criminal
law is the law (la loi). However, other sources
help to the understanding and interpretation of
some concepts used by the lawmaker.
• In order to interpret and to apply this law
correctly, the lawyer should refer to all sources of
law including Case laws (Jurisprudence), doctrine,
general principles of law.
 QUALIFICATIONS OF FACT IN SPECIFIC
CRIMES
• The qualification is the process which leads to
search of the appellation corresponding to the
given criminal act. We distinguish legal
qualification from judicial qualification.
 LEGAL QUALIFICATIONS AND JUDICIAL
QUALIFICATIONS
• Legal qualification is the one which is
abstractly defined by the law while the judicial
qualification is the one by which the judicial
authority (ie the judicial police officer, the
prosecutor and the judge) tries to fit the facts
to the legal qualification.
 SUCCESSIVE QUALIFICATIONS
• It consists of the possibility of modifying the
qualification during the criminal procedure.
According to this principle as long as the verdict is
not irrevocable, every qualification is open to
modification. Therefore, a prosecutor is not bound
by the qualification made by the judicial police
officer or by the complainant and the court is not
bound by the qualification made by the prosecutor.
Moreover, the court of appeal is not bound with the
qualification made by the court of first instance.
 The principle of crystallisation of the
qualification of offences
• According to this principle, the offence is
established and remains even if after its
commission some of its constitutive elements
disappear. For example the issue of poisoning
(Art 110 RPC) remains an offence even whatever
the result or to have pardon from the victim.
• Another example is in case of rape (art 134 RPC)
the offender is punished despite the ulterior
marriage between him and the victim.
Methods applicable to multiple qualifications

• In some cases when the judicial authority is

qualifying he/she is in presence of different
qualifications susceptible of being all
considered. The choice that the judicial
authority has to make must respect some
principles which change according to whether
the qualification is incompatible, alternative or
competing.
 Incompatible qualifications
• The incompatible qualifications are those that
exclude each other. It is the case when one
offence is the continuation of another or when
one offence is general while the other is
special.
The principle of finality of the incrimination

• It is a methodological principle which allows

the judicial authority to consider the offence-
goal (infraction fin) and turn down the
offence-consequence (infraction-
consequence) and the offence –means
(infraction-moyen). The offence-goal is the
targeted offence or the finality pursued by the
offender.
The principle of the most serious offence

• When the offence-goal is less serious than the

offence-means or the offence consequence,
we have to retain the most serious offence.
• Example: In case of murder committed to
facilitate robbery, we will retain murder
(offence-means) and not robbery (offence-
goal) because murder is more serious than
robbery.
 The principle of speciality of the
incrimination
• In case of two qualifications, one is general
and the other is special, the special one is to
be considered. This is the application of
another principle SPECIALIA GENERALIBUS
DEROGANT which means that the special case
makes an exception to the general principle.
EXAMPLE OF SPECIALITY ON INCRIMINATION

• In a case of a person killed by poison, it is the

poisoning (art 110 RPC) which will be
considered and not the murder (art 107 RPC)
because the poisoning is a particular modality
of murder.
• These principles apply only when there is a
logical link between different qualifications
otherwise the alternative or cumulative
qualification will be opted for.
 Alternative or optional qualification

• If one act leads to several qualifications, we

have to operate a choice, and once one
qualification is maintained, all others have to
be excluded.
EXAMPLE OF ALTERNATIVE QUALIFICATIONS

• A person who beats to death another will be

prosecuted under the qualification of murder
if the will of killing is established. He may also
be prosecuted for voluntary battery or bodily
injuries resulting to death but without the will
of killing or the involuntary manslaughter
(homicide involontaire) if the blow has been
laid unwillingly and without the intention of
the offender to cause the death of the victim.
 THE COMPETING QUALIFICATIONS

• According article 63, in case of concurrence of

offences, if an offender would receive several
penalties of imprisonment of fine as a result of
one or several acts, the judge shall apply the
most severe penalty and payment of fine
depending on the circumstance of the offence.
 OFFENCES AGAINST PERSONS/
HOMICIDES/MANSLAUGHTERS
• The homicide ( hominis= human + caedere= to
kill) is the fact of killing a human being. The
simplicity of this definition does not prevent
that in criminal law homicide can have several
forms. It is about murder, Euthanasia,
infanticide, the poisoning, involuntary
homicide and assault that has resulted to
death without intention to kill.
 THE VOLONTARY HOMICIDES
• The voluntary homicides (where the agent
provoked the victim's death with the intention to
reach this result). In taking account to the degree
of the criminal intention, of the quality of the
victim and the manner in which the death has
been given, the Rwandan special criminal law
distinguishes six voluntary homicides which are
the following: murder, Eutanasia, infanticide,
poisoning, help in suicide and abortion.
 MURDER
• Murder is defined as “the intentional killing of
a person ". This definition is correct but it can
also apply to other voluntary homicides
because in all homicides, there is an intention
to give the death to the victim.
• Article 107 of the RPC.
 MOTIVES OF MURDER
• The motive is the deep incentive that pushed
the agent to commit the offence: vengeance,
hatred, jealousy, love, pity…
• In principle, the motive (whether good or bad)
is not an excuse in criminal law. A judge cannot
consider the motive of love for a mother who
killed her son who was suffering from a very
painful disease such as skin cancer.
 Self privation of mental faculties and
drunkenness
• Voluntary intoxication that caused the
offender to commit the crime is never a
defence. Only involuntary intoxication
constitutes a defence in criminal law as a
ground of non culpability.
• Drunkenness itself is not punished unless the
drunker is found on public places such as
roads, pathways, pubs.
 The human personality of the victim

• The victim must be a human person (born and

living)...So, when someone kills the foetus, it is
abortion and not murder. And it is not possible
to kill a dead body, but an attack on it is
mutilation of cadaver... ,
• Quid of when the person did not know that
the victim was already dead? ‘Infraction
impossible’.
 PENALTY FOR MURDER
• Article 107 of the Rwandan Penal Code
provides for life imprisonment. However, in
terms of article 107, murder is punishable by
life imprisonment when it is committed by
degrading acts or preceded by another felony
or by degrading acts on the dead body.
 INFANTICIDE
• According article 108 of RPC Any woman, who
intentionally or by omission kills his or her
biological child whose age is not above twelve
(12) months but during the commission of the
offense she was in postpartum depression or
by effect of lactation commits an offense.
Upon conviction, he / she is liable to
imprisonment for a term of not less than five
(5) years but not exceeding seven (7) years.
 Infanticide: a sui generis offence or a
mitigating circumstance?
• The psychology disturbance resulted from panic and
anguish of the future mother and partially removed
the mother from acting reasonably.
• There are also legislations that consider infanticide
as an intolerable crime because of the state of the
victim. The new born is indeed weak and
defenceless.
• There’re also lawmakers who found that it is not
necessary to punish separately murder and
infanticide.
 EUTHANASIA
• Any person who, upon the patient’s request,
ends the patient’s life to relieve the patient’s
unbearable suffering caused by an incurable
illness commits an offence. (Art 109 RPC)
 PENALTIES OF EUTHANASIA
• Upon conviction, he/ she is liable to
imprisonment for a term of not less than three
(3) years and not more than five (5) years.
 ABORTION
• The Rwandan law punishes the abortion without
defining it. However, the concept has been
defined by the doctrine and the ‘Jurisprudence’:
• The abortion consists in practice and any acts
aiming at artificially interrupt the pregnancy by
provoking the expulsion of the foetus before the
right time, regardless of the stage of its
development and independently from its
viability.
 ABORTION IN RWANDA
• The Rwandan law punishes two types of
Abortion:
• -Self-induced abortion (art 123 of the RPC)
• -Causing abortion of another with or without
her consent (art 124 of the RPC)
 PENALTY FOR ABORTION
• Any person who self-induces an abortion
commits an offence.
• According to article 123 of the RPC : Upon
conviction, she is liable to imprisonment for a
term of not less than one (1) year and not more
than three (3) years and a fine of not less than
one hundred thousand Rwandan francs (FRW
100,000) and not more than two hundred
thousand Rwandan francs (FRW 200,000).
 PENALTIES ABORTION FOR THE ONE WHO
PERFORM ABORTION TO ANOTHER
• Upon conviction, he/she is liable to imprisonment for a term of not less than
three (3) years and not more than five (5) years.

• Any person who, because of negligence or carelessness, causes another person

to abort is liable to imprisonment for a term of not less than one (1) year and
not more than two (2) years and a fine of not less than three hundred
thousand Rwandan francs (RWF 300,000) and not more than five hundred
thousand Rwandan francs (RWF 500,000) or only one of these penalties.

• If abortion causes disability certified by a relevant medical doctor, the offender

is liable to imprisonment for a term of not less than twenty (20) years and not
more than twenty-five (25) years.
• (Art 124)
 Exemption from criminal liability for
abortion

• 1. the pregnant person is a child;

• 2º the person having abortion had become pregnant as a

result of rape;
• 3º the person having abortion had become pregnant after
being subjected to a forced marriage;
• 4º the person having abortion had become pregnant as a
result of incest up to the second degree;
• 5º the pregnancy puts at risk the health of the pregnant
person or of the foetus. (Art 125)
 POISONING
• According to art 110 of the Rwandan Penal
Code Poisoning is the fact for a person of
killing another person by administering
him/her a substance which can cause death
more or less promptly regardless of the
substance used or its mode of administration
and consequences.
 ADMINISTERING OTHER SUBSTANCE
• If the offender has administered substances which
are not capable of causing death we apply article
115 of the RPC (intentionally administering a
substance which may cause death, but without the
intention to cause death or a substance which is not
likely to cause death but can seriously impair the
health).
• The law does not indicate the way of administering
poison to the victim. All means are foreseen: to
drink, to make to eat, to inject, to make absorb.
 Penalties
• Upon conviction, he/she is liable to imprisonment for a term of
not less than two (2) years and not more than three (3) years,
and a fine of not less than three hundred thousand Rwandan
francs (FRW 300,000) and not more than five hundred thousand
Rwandan francs (FRW 500,000).
• In case the administered substance causes an incurable illness,
permanent incapacity to work, full loss of function of an organ,
the penalty is imprisonment for a term of not less than twenty
(20) years and not more than twenty-five (25) years and a fine of
more than five hundred thousand (500,000 FRW) Rwandan
francs and not more than one million Rwandan francs (FRW
1,000,000). (Art 115 RPC)
 INDIFERENCE OF RESULT
• Poisoning is a formal offence. The result is not
required for the offence to exist. It is not
necessary that the victim dies. The
administration or use of substances that can
cause death is sufficient regardless of the
result.
 PENALTY OF POISONING
• In terms of article 110 of the RPC, poisoning is
punishable by life imprisonment.
 Incitement to suicide and assistance with
suicide
• Suicide (Latin suicidium, from sui caedere, "to kill
oneself") is the act of intentionally causing one's
own death.
• The Rwandan code does not punish suicide but
article 116 RPC punishes any person who:
• Induces another person to commit suicide
• Helps another person to commit suicide
• Provokes another person to commit suicide by
inflicting persecution on him/her.
 Involuntary homicides/manslaughters
• In terms of article 111 of the RPC, has committed
involuntary homicide whoever kills a human being
through clumsiness (maladresse),
carelessness(imprudence), inattention, negligence,
failure to observe the rules or any other lack of
precaution and foresight (defaut de prevoyance et
de precaution).
• It is an involuntary homicide because indeed the
agent killed his victim without the intention to kill.
Constitutive elements/Material element

• Contrarily to murder that, in principle requires

a positive act, involuntary homicide can be
committed either through a positive or a
negative act. Carelessness is enough. What is
required here is an act that caused death.
 Positive act
• Positive act: Is liable of involuntary homicide a
soldier who recklessly touches on the trigger
of his gun and who pulls a deathblow which
results in a death of someone who is passing.
 Negative act
• Negative act: A nurse who carelessly received
a patient in a critical healthy situation and
who forgets to inform the doctor about the
state of the patient. If the patient dies, the
nurse is liable for involuntary homicide.
 The fault of the offender
• In criminal law, a fault is a mistake of behaviour
from which the offender involuntarily commits a
damageable fact.
• It is not the result of a positive will but of
psychological or intellectual mistake. It is said that
it comes from a passive will, the inertia of will or
better the absence of will. There are similarities in
the way of defining faults in criminal law and in
civil law (articles 258, 259 CCL III and others.
 Sort of faults
• There exist 2 kind of faults where are
conscious fault and unconscious fault.
 Conscious fault
• The accused acts voluntarily but excludes the
possibility of the damage.
• E.g: A driver who violates traffic light that is red in
hoping there is no pedestrian or other vehicles
because it is midnight. If he is involved in a deadly
accident, he commits involuntary homicide.
• The driver acted voluntarily but got an involuntary
result.
• The one who has conscious fault is liable for
involuntary homicide and not for murder
 Unconscious fault
• The reproachable act is unconscious as well as the result.
• E.g: A soldier who awkwardly manipulates his gun and
who unconsciously touches the trigger and accordingly
kills a person.
• The offender is not really criminal but he is careless for
having handled the weapon in a critical and forbidden
way. S/he will be therefore guilty of involuntary homicide
not only because his/her gesture killed a person but also
because this gesture is offending and reproachable.
 Acts considered as equivalent to a criminal
fault(faute pénale)
• The negligence
• Imprudence
• The lack of precaution
• The non- compliance of rules(driver of a car )
 INVOLONTARY HOMICIDE
• It will therefore be punished if it results in the victim’s
death.
• It won’t be qualified as involuntary homicide even if it
resulted from a heaviest mistake as long as the victim did
not die.
• There is no attempted involuntary homicide. Attempt
exists only for intentional homicides. In the case of
multiple offenders, each one will be held liable for
involuntary homicide.
• If there multiple victims, only one charge will be retained.
 Causal link between the fault and the
damage
• The fault must be the cause of the damage. It
is not enough to establish that a fault and
damage exist. It is necessary to demonstrate
also that the damage, namely the homicide
has resulted from someone’s fault.
 EXAMPLE OF A FAULT AND DAMAGE

• For instance a doctor who fails to take

necessary measures towards a patient who is
bleeding and who dies afterwards because of
the lack of the doctor’s intervention can be
responsible for this offence. The fault will still
be considered regardless of whether it was
direct or indirect. For instance if someone let
his aggressive dog free and the latter attacks
someone passing and kills him/her.
 CAUSAL LINK
• Causal link must not be merely eventual or
probable. It must be certain.
• Indeed in Rwandan criminal law, the fault
must be established beyond reasonable
doubt.
 IN DUBIO PROREO
• This is a principle in civil law system (in dubio pro reo). In
common law, it is possible to condemn the accused on a
balance of probabilities or on the basis of circumstantial
evidences. This is not allowed in Rwandan law.
• So the judge will examine if the offender’s act has got for
effect the death of the victim. It is a conditio sine qua
non of the result. E.g: A driver knocks down a pedestrian
and kills him or her immediately.
• The judge must look for the condition without which the
death would not have happened.
 PENALTY
• A person convicted of Involontary
manslaughter is liable to imprisonment for a
term of not less than six (6) months and not
more than two (2) years and a fine of not less
than five hundred thousand Rwandan francs
(FRW 500,000) and not more than two million
Rwandan francs ( FRW 2,000,000) or only one
of these penalties. (Art 111 RPC)
 VOLUNTARILY CAUSED INJURIES
• Voluntarily caused injuries can be categorized
in offences:
• Intentional minor violence
• Assault and battery
• Public drunkness
• Administering a substance to a person which
may cause illness or death
 Intentional minor violence (violence
volontaire légère)
• In terms of article 267-268 of the RPC,
intentional minor consists in committing
minor acts of violence against another person.
• Examples: To make a noise, public
drunkenness etc.....
 Constitutive elements
• Aggressions other than voluntary blows and injuries:
• These are simple aggressions which are not blows or injuries.

• E.g: The fact of pushing the victim or making him fall down
constitutes that offence. Likewise, the fact to push a person,
to pull him strongly the hand or the nose, to hold his/her
throat firmly constitutes that offence.
• b. Aggressions consisting of annoying (incommoder) or
dirtying (souiller)someone.
• Annoying (incommoder) someone means to make him/her
feel uncomfortable. It means to inconvenience somebody.
 PENALTY
• Throwing an object at a person that may
inconvenience or dirty him/her
• Any person who, in bad faith, throws any object at
another person which may
• Inconvenience or dirty that person, commits an
offence.
• Upon conviction, he/she is liable to a fine of not less
than two hundred thousand Rwandan francs (FRW
200,000) and not more than three hundred Rwandan
francs (FRW 300,000).(Art 119 (RPC)
 Voluntary assaults and injuries (coups et
bléssures volontaires)
• This consist in intentionally beating and
causing injuries to another or committing any
serious act of violence against him/her (see
article 121 of the RPC)
 MATERIAL ELEMENT
• Positive and material act: Positive because it is impossible to make blows and
injuries by omission or abstention (negative act).
• Material: i.e visible, constant for the offender to administer blow by any means
( blows by feet, stick...). Quid of the excitation of a dog which bites the victim?
• This offence requires a physical or material act of violence of a considerable
gravity.
• E.g: Pushing someone against the wall, slapping someone, throwing a stone
against someone, burning the skin with cigarette, a bite committed by a dog
voluntarily released.
• B. Human victim: The offence must be committed against a human being (born
and alive).
• If the victim is a domestic animal, we apply article 121 of the RPC
• If he is a civilian there is no offence.
• A girl who pierces her ears, a man who commits circumcision, a woman who
pulls her genital parts for complying with custom or some practices.
 MORAL ELEMENT
• The intention to harm (animus nocendi)
• If the guilty mind is established, it is immaterial
to elaborate about the victim’s consent and the
offender’s motive.
• In this regard, a Muslim thief who accepts to be
cut off his hands to comply with Koran
scriptures consents to this offence but the
offender will be held criminally responsible and
therefore punished for this offence.
 PENALTY

• Upon conviction, he/she is liable to imprisonment for a term of not

less than three (3) years and not more than five (5) years and a fine of
not less than five hundred thousand Rwandan francs (FRW 500,000)
and not more than one million Rwandan francs (FRW 1,000,000). If
the offence is committed against a child, a parent, a spouse or a
person unable to protect himself/herself because of his/her physical
or mental state, he/she is liable to imprisonment for a term of more
than five (5) years and not more than eight (8) years and a fine of not
less than one million Rwandan francs (FRW 1,000,000) and not more
than two million Rwandan francs (FRW 2,000,000).
• If assault or battery has caused illness or non-permanent incapacity
to work, the penalty is imprisonment for a term of not less than ten
(10) years and not more than (Art 121 RPC)
 Aggravating circumstances due to the
conditions of perpetration
• Premeditation or a ambush Battery and injuries
resulting in illness or incapacity to protect
himself.
• Battery and injuries resulting in incurable illness
or permanent incapacity(article
• Battery and injuries against a child or a person
unable to defend him/herself
• Battery and injuries resulting in death. (Art 120-
121)
 Elements for Assault or bodily injuries
resulting to death
• This is the fact of committing battery or
causing bodily injuries that result to death but
without the intention to kill (See article 120 of
RPC)
 CONSTITUTIVE ELEMENTS
• This crime requires a material and positive act
regardless of the means used by the offender.
• This offence is a material one (which requires
the result). If the death did not occur, this
offence cannot be qualified.
Causal link between the act and the result

• The death of the victim must be a result of the

battery (coups) by the offender.
• The causal link can still be established even in
case the battery was not fatal by themselves
but became so because of the morbid (state of
being ill) situation of the victim.
 PENALTY
• According to article 121 of the RPC, Upon conviction, he/she
is liable to imprisonment for a term of not less than three (3)
years and not more than five (5) years and a fine of not less
than five hundred thousand Rwandan francs (FRW 500,000)
and not more than one million Rwandan francs (FRW
1,000,000). If the offence is committed against a child, a
parent, a spouse or a person unable to protect
himself/herself because of his/her physical or mental state,
he/she is liable to imprisonment for a term of more than five
(5) years and not more than eight (8) years and a fine of not
less than one million Rwandan francs (FRW 1,000,000) and
not more than two million Rwandan francs (FRW 2,000,000).
 Voluntary administration of harmful
substances
• This offence is provided by article 115 and related to
poisoning.
• It consists in causing illness or incapacity to work to
another person by intentionally administering a
substance which:
• -May cause death, but without the intention to cause
death, but without the intention to cause death.
• -Is not likely to cause death but can seriously impair
the health.
 CONSTITUTIVE ELEMENTS
• The fact of causing illness or inability to work by
administering harmful substances.
• Administration
• The law does not provide for any precision on the way of
administering substances because it matters little. This might
be done through the mouth, by injection, by the nose, etc.
• Harmful substances
• The law does not provide a list of what it calls harmful
substances. The appreciation is left to the discretion of the
judge with the help of an expert.
• The lack of clarification leads to confusion between
substances that can lead to death and those that can alter
human health.
 PENALTIES

• Upon conviction, he/she is liable to imprisonment for a term of

not less than two (2) years and not more than three (3) years,
and a fine of not less than three hundred thousand Rwandan
francs (FRW 300,000) and not more than five hundred thousand
Rwandan francs (FRW 500,000).
• In case the administered substance causes an incurable illness,
permanent incapacity to work, full loss of function of an organ,
the penalty is imprisonment for a term of not less than twenty
(20) years and not more than twenty-five (25) years and a fine of
more than five hundred thousand (500,000 FRW) Rwandan
francs and not more than one million Rwandan francs (FRW
1,000,000). (Art 115 RPC)
 MORAL ELEMENT
• The offender must have acted voluntarily but
without the intention to kill.
• Contrary to the poisoning, there is only the
intention to harm the victim but not the
intention to kill.
• If the intention to kill is not required for the
administration of harmful substances, the
carelessness, inattention or the imprudence
would not be sufficient to constitute it.
 Assault and injuries resulting from lack of
foresight and precaution
• This consists of involuntarily assaulting or/and
battering because of lack of foresight and
precaution. The fact of causing bodily injuries
to many people is an aggravating circumstance
(See article 120).
 TORTURE
• For the purpose of this Law, torture means any act by
which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or
mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such
purposes as obtaining from him/her or a third person
information or a confession, punishing him/her for
an act he/she or a third person has committed or is
suspected of having committed, or intimidating or
coercing him/her or a third person, or for any reason
based on discrimination of any kind.
• The crime of torture is imprescriptible. (112)
 SEXUAL TORTURE
• Any person who causes damage to genital
organs of another person commits an offence.
Upon conviction, he/she is liable to a term of
life imprisonment.
 PENALTIES
• Any person convicted of torture is liable to
imprisonment for a term of not less than
twenty (20) years and not more than twenty-
five (25) years. (Art 112)
 Involuntarily throwing anything likely to
disturb or dirty
• Any person who, in bad faith, throws any object
at another person which may
• inconvenience or dirty that person, commits an
offence.
• Upon conviction, he/she is liable to a fine of not
less than two hundred thousand Rwandan
francs (FRW 200,000) and not more than three
hundred Rwandan francs (FRW 300,000). (Art
119 RPC)
 Verbal threat with or without an order or a
condition
• See art article 128-129 of the RPC
 PENALTIES FOR THREAT
• Upon conviction, he/she is liable to imprisonment for a term of
not less than one (1) year and not more than two (2) years and a
fine of not less than three hundred thousand Rwandan francs
(FRW 300,000) and not more than five hundred thousand
Rwandan francs (FRW 500,000).
• If such threats are accompanied by duress or are carried out by
imposing conditions on the victim, or by depriving him/her of
property
• , the penalty is imprisonment for a term of more than two (2)
years and not more than three (3) years and a fine of not less
than two million Rwandan francs (FRW 2,000,000) and not more
than three million Rwandan francs (FRW 3,000,000). (Art 128)
 BLACKMAIL
• Blackmail is an act of demanding a signature from a
person, acceptance or denial of a responsibility,
disclosure of a secrecy, remittance of funds,
negotiable instrument or any other asset by
threatening to denounce him/her, to disclose or
attribute such information, whether true or false,
that may damage the honour or reputation of the
victim or any other person who, if threatened, may
cause harm to the victim.
• Any person who uses blackmail, commits an offence.
 PENALTIES
• Upon conviction, he/she is liable to imprisonment for a
term of not less than one (1) year and not more than three
(3) years and a fine of not less than one hundred thousand
Rwandan francs (FRW 100,000) and not more than three
hundred thousand Rwandan francs (FRW 300,000).
• If the person who commits blackmail executes his/her
threats, the penalty is imprisonment for a term of more
than three (3) years and not more than five (5) years, and
a fine of not less than one million Rwandan francs (FRW
1,000,000) and not more than two million Rwandan francs
(FRW 2,000,000). (Art 129 RPC)
 OTHER PROHIBITED PRACTICES
• See Art: 130, 131 and 132
 OFFENCES AGAINST FAMILY AND SEXUAL
MORALITY
• The nuclear family is composed by the two spouses and
their children. On the other hand, an extended family
consists of parents, children, and other close relatives,
often living in close proximity. The family is protected
by the law from some behaviour among partners. That
is why the RPC punishes the following offences:
• -Offences against children and persons unable to
protect themselves
• -Offences related to marriage and family desertion
• -Adultery, bigamy and rape.
 INDECENT ASSAULT AND RELATED
OFFENCES
• In terms of article 135 of the RPC indecent assault (attentat à la
pudeur) consists of facts or behaviours contrary to the customs and
morality which undermine the dignity and the cultural identity of
the human being.
• According to the doctrine, indecent assault may involve ‘’touching
portions of the anatomy commonly thought private, such as a
person’s genital area or buttocks, or breasts of a female ‘’
• Moreover it is judged that ‘’a touching is indecent when judged, by
normative standards of societal mores, it is violative of social and
behavioural expectations in a manner which is fundamentally
offensive to contemporary moral values’’
 Penalty
• Any person who is convicted of indecent assault is liable to
imprisonment for a term of not less than one (1) year and not
more than two (2) years, and a fine of not less than one
hundred thousand Rwandan francs (FRW 100,000) and not
more than three hundred thousand Rwandan francs (FRW
300,000).
• If indecent assault is committed in public, the offender is liable
to imprisonment for a term of not less than two (2) years and
not more than three (3) years, and a fine of not less than five
hundred thousand Rwandan francs (FRW 500,000) and not
more than one million Rwandan francs (FRW 1,000,000).
 AGGRAVATING CIRCUMSTANCES
• Penalties provided for in Paragraphs 2 and 3 of this Article are
doubled if the offender:
• 1° is a descendant or an ascendant of the victim;
• 2° is in the category of those who have authority over him/her ;
• 3° is a teacher ;
• 4° is a civil servant, a representative of the administrative authority,
a minister of worship who has abused his/her position, or a
medical doctor or medical staff who commits such an offence
against a person placed under his/her authority by virtue of his/her
duties;  
• 5° was assisted by one or several persons in committing the
offence;  
• 6° used force or threats;
• (135 RPC)
 ADULTERY
• Adultery is the sexual intercourse of a legally
married person with another person other
than his/her spouse (art 136 of the RPC).
 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF ADULTERY
• Since long time ago, in African societies, this offence has been considered as a
very serious crime to the extent that in most societies it was punished with the
death penalty.
• For some customs, it was even allowed for the man to kill not only his wife
immediately if he finds her committing that crime but also her accomplice (the
man).
• In some countries of the horn of Africa, there was a practice of preventing the
adultery by the way of sewing (coudre) the vaginas of wives during the absence.
• In UK, there was a practice called ‘Ceinture de chasteté’: (on fermait cette
ceinture avec un cadenat).
• Currently, this offence is still a serious one in most countries. For instance in Iran,
a wife convicted of Adultery is sentenced to death penalty by stoning...
• In Rwanda it is also punished and in the same way for the wife and a man as well
as the accomplice.
CONSTITUTIVE ELEMENTS OF ADULTERY
• A. Material element: Sexual intercourse with a partner other than his/her spouse.
• There must have been sexual intercourse between a married person and another
person who is not his/her spouse. This excludes other acts related to sex but which
do not amount to the penetration. What if a married person has sex with another
person with the same sex?
• B. The marriage (Etat de Mariage)
• The act of adultery must be committed in a status of marriage.
• Quid of the case where sexual intercourse occur between one of the ‘fiancées’ and
another person other than his/her fiancée and the consequences appear after the
marriage?
• The marriage must also be valid and not dissolved.
• C. Culpable intention:
• The offender must have acted voluntarily and not forced.
• E.g: - When a married person has been forced it is not adultery.
 PENALTY FOR ADULTERY
• Upon conviction, he/she is liable to imprisonment
for a term of not less than six (6) months and not
more than one (1) year.
• The prosecution of adultery is initiated only upon
complaint of the offended spouse. In that case, the
prosecution is initiated against the accused spouse
and the co-offender. The offended spouse may at
any stage of the procedure request that the
proceedings be terminated when he/she retracts
and withdraws the complaint. (136)
 Sexual violence against a spouse
• A person who commits a physical and sexual
violence on his/ her spouse commits an
offence. Upon conviction, he / she is liable to
imprisonment for a term of not less than three
(3) years but not more than five (5) years.
(137)
CONCUBINAGE OR COHABITATION
• Cohabitation (concubinage) is a de facto
union between a man and a woman who live
together permanently , either one or both are
legally married (art 138).
 CONSTITUTIVE ELEMENTS
• Material element: Act of having a de facto union
with a man/woman and living together permanently.
• Existence of a valid Marriage: One of them must
have a valid marriage.
• Permanent relation as spouses: They must live
permanently as if they were married.
• Culpable intention: The author must have done so
knowing that the 1st marriage is still valid and that it
is not dissolved.
 PENALTIES FOR CONCUBINAGE
• The person convicted of cohabitation shall be
liable of 1 year to 2years. (Art 138)
 Child defilement (viol sur mineur)
• In terms of article 133 of the RPC, child defilement means any
sexual intercourse or any sexual act with a child regardless of the
form or means used.
• Any person who commits any of the sex related acts listed below
on a child, commits an offence:
• 1º insertion of a sexual organ into the sexual organ, anus or mouth
of the child;
• 2º insertion of any organ of the human body into a sexual organ or
anus of a child;
• 3º performing any other act on the body of a child for the purpose
of bodily pleasure.
•  
 MATERIAL ACT
• Article 133 of the RPC does not require a
sexual penetration because it is said that even
in case the offender uses any other means or
methods on a child, rape can be qualified. So,
the act might be either Sexual intercourse or
any sexual practice.
 MORAL ELEMENT
• There must be the intention to have sex or
sexual practice with the victim.
 PENALTIES
• According to article 133 of the RPC, Upon conviction,
he/she is liable to imprisonment for a term of not less
than twenty (20) years and not more than twenty-five
(25) years.
• If child defilement is committed on a child under
fourteen (14) years, the penalty is life imprisonment
that cannot be mitigated by any circumstances.
• If child defilement committed on a child of fourteen
(14) years of age or older has resulted into an incurable
illness or disability, the penalty is life imprisonment.
 RAPE
• In terms of article 134 of the RPC, rape means
causing another person to engage in a non-
consensual sexual intercourse by using force,
threat or trickery (ruse).
 LEGAL ELEMENT
• Legal element: Article 134 of the RPC
 MATERIAL ACT
• The act of causing sexual intercourse with a
person without her/his consent.
• Rape is a formal offence, whether there have
been a sexual satisfaction or not.
COMPONENT OF THE ACT OF RAPE
• Threat, Ruse (or deception), Surprise (abus
d’une personne).
 VIOLENCE
• There must be a physical illegitimate violence by a
male to a female. What if it is done to his own wife,
his former wife, his concubine or fiancee?
• For the violence to characterize the rape, it must be
of a certain gravity and must be directed against the
victim to neutralize her.
• In some cases, the woman pretends to resist and
waits that the man exercises a certain violence, for
example while undressing her or introducing his
sexual organ by force.
 THE THREAT
• To threaten someone and cause her fear that
something bad will happen to her or to a
person she loves if she does not accept to
have sex. E.g: The threat to arrest her ... to
threaten to denounce to her husband that she
was surprised in adultery if she would not
accept to provide to the offender the same
benefits.
 Deception (ruse)
• The offender use some manoeuvres to neutralise the will of
the victim. E.g: A traditional physician who, in treating a
patient(woman) who has a problem of sterility asks her to
have sex with him in order for her to heal that problem(and
conceive and have kids in future).
• E.g: to mix a product exciting to lemonade offered to a visitor.
• Quid if a boy tells to a girl “I love you, I adore you, if you don't
want me, I will die “. There is no problem if the girl gives up.
• What if he puts a rope around his neck and she is ready to
commit suicide, if the girl does not surrender? Is it ruse
(malice) or threat?
 Surprise (abus de la personne)
• For instance there is no valid consent if the
offender has intercourse with a sleeping
woman, unless, of course, she has previously,
whilst awake, given her consent.
• Likewise, no valid consent if as a result of a
mental defect, the woman is incapable of
understanding and appreciating the nature
and consequence of sexual intercourse.
 Sexual violence against a spouse

• A person who commits a physical and sexual

violence on his/ her spouse commits an
offence. Upon conviction, he / she is liable to
imprisonment for a term of not less than three
(3) years but not more than five (5) years.
 Sexual harassment
• Sexual harassment are repeated remarks or
behaviour of sexual overtones towards a
person that either undermine, violate his/her
dignity because of their degrading or
humiliating character which create against
him/her an intimidating, hostile or unpleasant
situation.
 PENALTIES
• Any person who commits any of the acts
referred to in Paragraph One of this Article,
commits an offence. Upon conviction, he/she
is liable to imprisonment for a term of not less
than six (6) months and not more than one (1)
year and a fine of not less than one hundred
thousand Rwandan francs (FRW 100,000) and
not more than two hundred thousand
Rwandan francs (FRW 200,000). (Art 149 RPC)
 INTENTION
• Rape is an intentional crime. It is committed
with the intention to rape (to have sex with
someone without her consent).
 LEGAL ELEMENT
• Any person who is convicted of rape is liable
to imprisonment for a term of not less than
ten (10) years but not more than fifteen (15)
years and a fine of not less than one million
Rwandan francs (FRW 1,000,000) but not
more than two million Rwandan francs (FRW
2,000,000). (134 RPC)
 Aggravating circumstances
• Rape committed to an elderly person, a person
with disability or a sick person
• If rape results in an incurable disease for the victim
• Rape with intention to infect another person with
an infection (art 134).
• Note that refusing to report offences against
morality, offences against children as well as
refusal to assist a victim of such offences or to
testify is punishable under article 134 of the RPC.
 Abandonment of a dependant unable to protect
himself/herself

• Any person who abandons or causes to abandon in

an open place or neglects his/her dependant
because of his/her physical or mental state,
commits an offence. Upon conviction, he/she is
liable to imprisonment for a term of not less than
one (1) year and not more than two (2) years and a
fine of not less than one hundred thousand
Rwandan francs (FRW 100,000) and not more than
two hundred thousand Rwandan francs (FRW
200,000).
 PENALTIES
• If a person unable to protect himself/herself was abandoned in
an isolated place with intention to hide him/her, the penalty is an
imprisonment for a term of not less than three (3) years and not
more than five (5) years and a fine of not less than three hundred
thousand Rwandan francs (FRW 300,000) and not more than five
hundred thousand Rwandan francs (FRW 500,000).
• If the abandonment or neglect of a person causes serious illness,
loss of one of the parts of the body or disability, the penalty is an
imprisonment for a term of not less than seven (7) years and not
more than ten (10) years.
• If the abandonment or neglect of a person results into the death,
the penalty is life imprisonment. (Art 144 RPC)
STIGMATIZATION AGAINST A SEEK PERSON

• Any person who stigmatizes a sick person, without

the intention to protect the sick person or other
persons, commits an offence. Upon conviction,
he/she is liable to imprisonment for a term of not
less than one (1) month but less than six (6) months
and a fine of not less than three hundred thousand
Rwandan francs (FRW 300,000) and not more than
five hundred thousand Rwandan francs (FRW
500,000) or only one of these penalties. (Art 145
RPC)
OFFENCES RELATED TO MARRIAGE AND FAMILY DESERTION

• A spouse who, without serious reasons, deserts his/her marital

home for more than two (2) months and evades his/her
obligations, commits an offence.
• Upon conviction, he/she is liable to imprisonment for a term of
not less than three (3) months and not more than six (6) months.
• Penalties referred to in Paragraph 2 of this Article also apply to a
husband who, wilfully and without serious reasons, deserts his
wife for more than one (1) month knowing that she is pregnant.
• However, separation following mistreatment of one of the
spouses is not considered as desertion of the marital home when
he/she has informed the nearest local
• See art (139 RPC).
 PLAYING A ROLE IN FORCED COHABITATION

• Any person who plays a role in forcing cohabitation

of a man and a woman, commits an offence.
• Upon conviction, he/she is liable to imprisonment
for a term of not less than one (1) year and not
more than two (2) years and a fine of not less than
two hundred thousand Rwandan francs (FRW
200.000) and not more than three hundred
thousand Rwandan francs (FRW 300.000). (Art 146)
DISPOSAL OF MARITAL PROPERTY WITHOUT HIS/HER CONSENT

• Fraudulently donating, selling, mortgaging or use of

marital property without the consent of either spouse
• Acquiring one of the above mentioned items being aware
of the absence of the consent of one of the spouse
• Participating in one of the above mentioned acts being
aware of the absence of the consent of one of the spouse
• Note that spouses married under the regime of separation
of properties are not concerned by this offence. (Art 150
RPC)
 MORAL ELEMENT
• The crime of family abandonment implies the
offender’s intent. The father and mother
should be aware of the gravity of the
negligence of their parental obligations or
obligations arising from the legal guardianship,
as well as the bad consequences incurred by
the children. As for the husband, he should be
conscious that he abandons his wife knowing
her situation of pregnancy.
 Prosecution of the offence of
concubinage and desertion of the
marital home
• The prosecution of the offence of concubinage and desertion of the
marital home is initiated only upon complaint of the offended spouse.
• The offended spouse may at any stage of the procedure request that
the proceedings be terminated when he/she retracts and withdraws
the complaint.
• However, if the matter is already brought before court or if a decision
thereon has been taken, retraction does not stop the consideration of
the case or the execution of the judgment. The judge considers the
case after which he/she can accept and refuse such a retraction upon
justification. (Art 140)
 Bigamy or officiating a bigamy
• It is the fact of entering into the second marriage
while the first marriage is still valid ( 141 of the RPC).
• Bigamy is any person who:
• 1º enters into a marriage contract while the previous
one is still valid;
• 2º accepts to marry a person knowing that the latter is
party to an undissolved marriage;
• 3º officiates at a marriage ceremony knowing that the
person getting married has another marriage contract;
 PENALTIES
• Any person convicted of one of the acts
referred to in Paragraph One of this Article is
liable to imprisonment for a term of not less
than one (1) year and not more than two (2)
years and a fine of not less than three
hundred thousand Rwandan francs (FRW
300,000) and not more than five hundred
thousand Rwandan francs (FRW 500,000).
(See art 141)
 BESTIALITY AND ITS PUNISHMENT
• Any person who engages in a sexual act with an
animal, commits an offence. Upon conviction, he/she is
liable to imprisonment for a term of not less than six
(6) months and not more than one (1) year.
• Any person who, in any manner whatsoever, causes
another person to engage in a sexual act with an
animal, is liable to imprisonment for a term of not less
than seven (7) years and not more than ten (10) years,
and a fine of not less than three million Rwandan
francs (FRW 3,000,000) and not more than five million
Rwandan francs (FRW 5,000,000). ( art 142)
 PUBLIC INDECENCY
• Any person who performs an indecent act in
public, commits an offence. Upon conviction,
he/she is liable to imprisonment for a term of
not less than six (6) months and not more
than two (2) years. (Art 143)
 Child defilement (viol sur mineur)
• In terms of article 133 of the RPC, child defilement means
any sexual intercourse or any sexual act with a child
regardless of the form or means used.
• Any person who commits any of the sex related acts listed
below on a child, commits an offence:
• 1º insertion of a sexual organ into the sexual organ, anus or
mouth of the child;
• 2º insertion of any organ of the human body into a sexual
organ or anus of a child;
• 3º performing any other act on the body of a child for the
purpose of bodily pleasure.
 MATERIAL ELEMENT
• Article 133 of the RPC does not require a
sexual penetration because it is said that even
in case the offender uses any other means or
methods on a child, rape can be qualified. So,
the act might be either Sexual intercourse or
any sexual practice.
 MORAL ELEMENT
• There must be the intention to have sex or
sexual practice with the victim.
 LEGAL ELEMENT
• According to article 133 of the RPC, Upon conviction,
he/she is liable to imprisonment for a term of not less
than twenty (20) years and not more than twenty-five
(25) years.
• If child defilement is committed on a child under
fourteen (14) years, the penalty is life imprisonment
that cannot be mitigated by any circumstances.
• If child defilement committed on a child of fourteen
(14) years of age or older has resulted into an incurable
illness or disability, the penalty is life imprisonment.
 AGGRAVATING CIRCUMSTANCES
• If child defilement committed on a child of
fourteen (14) years of age or older has
resulted into an incurable illness or disability,
the penalty is life imprisonment.
• If child defilement is followed by cohabitation
as husband and wife, the penalty is life
• imprisonment that cannot be mitigated by any
circumstances. (Art 133)
 Abduction and unlawful detention of a
person
• Any person who, by violence, deception or threats,
abducts or causes to be abducted, unlawfully detains
or causes to be detained another person, commits
an offence. Upon conviction, he/she is liable to
imprisonment for a term of not less than five (5)
years and not more than seven (7) years.
• If the victim of any of the acts referred to in
Paragraph one of this Article is a child, the penalty is
an imprisonment for a term of more than seven (7)
years and not more than ten (10) years. (Art 151)
 False accusations
• Any person who knowingly makes false
accusations against another person before an
investigator, a prosecutor or a judge, commits
an offence.
 PENALTIES
• Upon conviction, he /she is liable to
imprisonment for a term of not less than two
(2) months but less than six (6) months and a
fine of not less than three hundred thousand
Rwandan francs (FRW 300,000) and not more
than five hundred thousand Rwandan francs
(FRW 500,000) or only one of the penalties.
(Art 152)
 Offences against freedom of worship
• Any person who: (Art 153 RPC)
• 1º by use of violence, insults or threats, compels
or prevents one or more persons from practicing
religious rituals or celebrating religious festivities
of a legally recognized religious denomination;
• 2º causes trouble or disorder, prevents, delays or
interrupts religious rituals conducted in public in a
legally recognized manner; commits an offence.
 OFFENCES AGAINST PRIVACY
• The private life, family, home or
correspondence of a person shall not be
subjected to arbitrary interference; his or her
honour and good reputation shall be respected.
• A person’s home is inviolable. No search of or
entry into a home may be carried out without
the consent of the owner, except in
circumstances and in accordance with
procedures determined by law.
The kidnapping and unlawful detention

• Article 151 of the penal code highlights three

incriminated acts:
• The act of kidnapping or causing the
kidnapping
• The act of arresting or causing the arrest
• The act of detaining or causing the detention
 KIDNAPING AND DETENTION
• It is the fact, for instance, of illegally detaining
a person; it is also the fact of illegally
displacing a person from one place to another.
The place of detention does not matter.
Likewise, the repentance that is active but late
is inoperative. That is the reason why, for
instance, a detention followed by a release of
the person, remains intangibly established.
 MATERIAL ELEMENT
• According to article 151 of the penal code, material
acts of kidnapping, illegally detaining or arbitrarily
arresting may be realised either by violence,
deception or threat. The violence is understood as
any means of force or coercion. Deception or
trickery means any manoeuvre paralysing the
person’s will. As for threat, it implies for example
any announcement of an imminent wrong of the
nature to make the victim accept the violation of
his/her right to movement.
 MORAL ELEMENT
• Kidnapping is an intentional crime. The
offender must have voluntarily acted, being
conscious that he poses acts which he/she
either has no right of or entitled to. Thus,
intellectually, the offender should have acted
illegally, intentionally and arbitrarily.
 LEGAL ELEMENT
• Upon conviction, he/she is liable to
imprisonment for a term of not less than five
(5) years and not more than seven (7) years.
• If the victim of any of the acts referred to in
Paragraph one of this Article is a child, the
penalty is an imprisonment for a term of more
than seven (7) years and not more than ten
(10) years. (Art 151 rpc)
 VIOLATION OF DOMICILE
• Upon conviction, he/she is liable to imprisonment for a
term of not less than two (2) months but less than six
(6) months and a fine of not less five hundred thousand
Rwandan francs (FRW 500,000) and not more than one
million Rwandan francs (FRW 1.000,000).
• If entry into a person’s domicile is by recourse to
threats, housebreaking or use of false keys, the penalty
is an imprisonment for a term of not less than three (3)
years and not more than five (5) years and a fine of
more than one million Rwandan francs (FRW 1,000,000)
and less than two million Rwandan francs (FRW
2,000,000) or only one of these penalties. (Art 155)
 Secretly listening to conversations, taking
photos or disclosing them
• Any person who, in bad faith and in any way,
infringes the personal privacy of another
person by:
• 1º secretly listening to, or disclosing, people’s
confidential statements without authorisation;
 
• 2º taking a photo, audio or visual recording or
disclosing them without one’s authorisation;  
 PENALTIES
• Any person who is convicted of any of the acts
referred to in Paragraph One of this Article, is
liable to imprisonment for a term of not less
than six (6) months and not more than one (1)
year and a fine of not less than one million
Rwandan francs (FRW 1,000,000) and not
more than two million Rwandan francs (FRW
2,000,000) or only one of these penalties. (Art
156 RPC)
 MORAL ELEMENT
• If the acts referred to in Paragraph One of this
Article are committed in full view and awareness of
the persons concerned and without opposing the
acts while they were able to do so, their consent is
presumed. The penalties referred to in Paragraph 2
of this Article also apply to a person who, in bad
faith, distributes in any way whatsoever, a photo,
audio and video, recordings or documents obtained
as a result of one of the acts referred to in Paragraph
One of this Article. (Art 156)
Publication of edited statements or images

• Any person who, in bad faith, publishes in any

way whatsoever an edited version of a
person’s statements, or images and photos
without explicitly stating that it is not the
original version, commits an offence.
 PENALTIES
• Upon conviction, he/she is liable to
imprisonment for a term of not less than six
(6) months and not more than one (1) year
and a fine of not less than one million
Rwandan francs (FRW 1,000,000) and not
more than two million Rwandan francs (FRW
2,000,000). (Art 157)
 PROFESSIONAL SECRECY
• Any person who reveals professional secrecy
entrusted as privilege to keep by virtue of
function, occupation or mandate of a religion,
whether in service or after leaving the service,
commits an offence.
 PENALTIES
• Upon conviction, he/she is liable to imprisonment for
a term of not less than one (1) year and not more than
two (2) years and a fine of not less than two million
Rwandan francs (FRW 2,000,000) and not more than
three million Rwandan francs (FRW 3,000,000).
• However, it is not a breach of professional secrecy: 1º
if the law requires or allows the disclosure of a
professional secrecy;
• 2º For a person providing information to judicial
authorities. (Art 158 RPC)
 OTHER OFFENCES
• Offences committed against correspondences
in the various telecommunication channels.
(Art 159 RPC)
• Collection of individuals’ personal
information in computers (Art 160 RPC)
 PUBLIC INSULT
• Any person who publicly insults another person, commits an
offence.
• The public insult referred to in article 161 is realized by the fact
of offending a person not by a precise fact as in the damaging
imputation but by insulting words destined to contempt the
victim. The crime provided in article 161 of the penal code
does not require that a precise fact be imputed to the victim.
Even the vague and imprecise words are penalized. These
words should however have an insulting character. The injury
is punishable only if the author has acted with the intent of
offending. So, a joking voice can omit the insulting character.
 PENALTIES
• Upon conviction, he/she is liable to imprisonment for a
term of not less than fifteen (15) days and not more
than two (2) months; a fine of not less than one hundred
thousand Rwandan francs (FRW 100,000) and not more
than two hundred thousand Rwandan francs (FRW
200,000); community service for a period of not more
than fifteen (15) days or only one of these penalties.
• Public insult referred to in Paragraph One of this Article
is a sign, practice, statement or written document
intended to deliberately and directly hurt another
person. (Art 161 RPC)
 CRIME OF DISCRIMINATION
• Article 16 of the Rwandan Constitution provides
that: “All Rwandans are born and remain free and
equal in rights and duties. Discrimination of
whatever kind based on, inter alia, ethnic origin,
tribe, clan, colour, sex, region, social origin,
religion or faith, opinion, economic status,
culture, language, social status, physical or mental
disability or any other form of discrimination is
prohibited and punishable by law”
 PENALTIES
• A person convicted of committing one of the
acts referred to under Paragraph One of this
Article is liable to imprisonment for a term of
not less than five (5) years but not more than
seven (7) years and a fine of not less than five
hundred thousand Rwandan francs (FRW
500,000) but not more than one million
Rwandan francs (FRW 1,000,000). (Art 163)
 Crime of instigating division
• A person who makes use of speech, writing, or
any other act which divide people or may set
them against each other or cause civil unrest
on the basis of discrimination, commits an
offence.
 PENALTIES
• A person convicted of committing one of the
acts referred to under paragraph one of this
Article is liable to imprisonment for a term of
not less than five (5) years but not more than
seven (7) years and a fine of not less than five
hundred thousand Rwandan francs (FRW
500,000) but not more than one million
Rwandan francs (FRW 1,000,000). (Art 164
RPC).
OFFENCES AGAINST THE STATE SECURITY

• This include Internal and external security.

 TREASON
• Any Rwandan who:
• 1º uses terrorism, subversion, armed attacks
or threats of violence, with intention to annex
Rwanda or its part to a foreign country;
• 2º attempts to annex the Republic of Rwanda
or its part under foreign domination;
• 3º wages a war against the Government;
 PENALTIES
• Commits an offence of treason in terms of art
191 of Rwandan penal codes and shall be
punished as follows once convicted.
• Upon conviction, he/she is liable to
imprisonment for a term of not less than
twenty (20) years and not more than twenty
five (25) years.
 PENALTIES

• Upon conviction, he/she is liable, in wartime, to imprisonment

for a term of not less than twenty (20) years and not more than
twenty (25) years. In peacetime, he/she is liable to
imprisonment for a term of not less than ten (10) years to
fifteen (15) years.
• If acts mentioned in Paragraph One of this Article are
performed due to clumsiness, recklessness or negligence, the
penalty, during wartime, is an imprisonment for a term of more
than five (5) years and not more than seven (7) years. In
peacetime, the penalty is an imprisonment for a term of not
less than one (1) year and not more than three (3) years.
• In this Law, State secret is any act or all acts, knowledge, any
documents where they may be or any explanations prohibited
by the law for purposes of defending the nation.
 OFFENCES AGAINST PUBLIC SECURITY

• That are offences which can breach public

order at internal level and which are
punishable by the law.
 Formation of a criminal association

• Any person who forms a criminal association

regardless of number of its members or its
duration to commit offences against persons
or their property, who aids
• in its formation, who is its leader, who is its
organiser, who joins, who encourages or
forces others to join, commits an offence.
 PENALTIES
• Upon conviction, he/she is liable to
imprisonment for a term of not less than seven
(7) years and not more than ten (10) years.
•  
• Without prejudice to provisions of Article 52 of
this Law, in case of recidivism, the penalty that
applies is a term of imprisonment of not less
than fifteen (15) years and not more than
twenty (20) years. (Art 224 RPC)
 Illegal demonstration or public meeting
(Strike)
• Any person who illegally holds a demonstration or
a meeting or who demonstrates on a public place
without prior authorization commits an offence.
• Demonstration is any act of a group of people
gathered in a public place with intent to
demonstrate their feelings or opinion by speeches,
actions or shouting. A public meeting means a
gathering open for the public or in which the
public is invited. (Art 225)
 PENALTIES

• Upon conviction, he/she is liable to imprisonment for a term

of not less than eight (8) days and less than six (6) months
and a fine of not less than five hundred thousand Rwandan
francs (FRW 500,000) and not more than one million
Rwandan francs (FRW 1,000,000) or only one of these
penalties.
• If the acts referred to under Paragraph One of this Article
have threatened security, public order or health, the penalty
that applies is a term of imprisonment of not less than six
(6) months and not more than one (1) year and a fine of not
less than three million (FRW 3,000,000) Rwandan francs and
not more than five million (FRW 5,000,000) Rwandan francs.
 Penalties for escape of a detainee or a prisoner and its
punishment
• A detainee or a prisoner who escapes, commits an offence. Upon
conviction, he/she is liable to imprisonment for a term of not less
than three (3) years, and not more than five (5) years.
• Any detainee or prisoner who escapes by burglary, bribery or
violence, is liable to imprisonment for a term of not less than five
(5) years and not more than seven (7) years and a fine of not less
than five hundred thousand (FRW 500,000) Rwandan francs and
not more than one million (FRW 1,000,000) Rwandan francs.
• In case of the use of a firearm, an explosive or a sedative
substance, the penalty that applies is imprisonment for a term of
more than seven (7) years and not more than ten (10) years. (Art
227)
Helping a detainee or a prisoner to escape

• Any person charged with guarding a detainee

or a prisoner who assists the detainee or the
prisoner to escape or who helps him/her in
preparations to escape even though the guard
abstains from acting, commits an offence.
 PENALTIES
• Upon conviction, he/she is liable to
imprisonment for a term of not less than five
(5) years and not more than seven (7) years
and a fine of not less than five hundred
thousand (FRW 500,000) Rwandan francs and
not more than one million (FRW 1.000.000)
Rwandan francs. (Art 228 RPC)
 Penalty for breach of restriction of
movement
• Any person sentenced by a court with the
penalty of prohibition or obligation to stay but
who violates terms of sentence, commits an
offence
• Upon conviction, he/she is liable to
imprisonment for a term of a duration at least
equal to the time remaining to serve the
penalty of prohibition or obligation to stay. (Art
229)
 OFFENCES AGAINST THE GOVERNMENT

• Are the offences which target the disturbances

against the functioning of government.
 REBELLION
• Any person who, by any means rebels, by use
of violence, assault or threats against
authorities, civil servants or private
employees, security agents in the course of
enforcement of law, regulations,
administrative or judicial decisions, commits
an offence of rebellion against authority.
 PENALTIES
• In terms of article 230 of Rwandan penal codes upon conviction of
rebellion, he/she is liable to imprisonment for a term of not less than six
(6) months and not more than one (1) year.
• If the rebellious person is armed, the penalty that applies is imprisonment
for a term of not less than two (2) years and not more than three (3) years;
• If rebellion is committed by several persons without weapons and without
prior consultation among themselves, the penalty that applies is
imprisonment for a term of not less than one (1) year but less than two (2)
years.
• If rebellion is committed by several armed persons and without prior
consultation among themselves, the penalty that applies is liable to
imprisonment for a term of more than three (3) years and not more than
five (5) years.
• The penalties referred to under Paragraph 2 and 3 of this Article do not
apply to a person who withdraws acts of rebellion at the first warning of
authority, if he/she had no commanding role in these acts.
 Assault or violence against public
authorities
• Any person who assaults or commits any other
act of violence against a member of
Parliament, a Cabinet member, a security
officer or other official in the performance or
in connection with the performance of his/her
duties, commits an offence.
•  
 PENALTIES
• A person convicted of any of the acts referred to under
Paragraph One of this Article is liable to term of
imprisonment of not less than three (3) years and not
more than five (5) years.
• If the assault results into physical injuries, the applicable
penalty is imprisonment for a term of more than five (5)
years, and less than seven (7) years.
• If that violence is committed with premeditation or by
ambush, the applicable penalty is imprisonment for a term
of more than seven (7) years not more than ten (10) years.
• If that violence is committed with an intention to kill, the
applicable penalty is a term of life imprisonment. (Art 234)
 Assault or violence against the President of
the Republic
• Any person who commits violence or assault against the
President of the Republic, commits an offence. Upon
conviction, he/she is liable to a term of imprisonment of not
less than ten (10) years and not more than fifteen (15) years.
• If violence or assault against the President of the Republic is
committed with premeditation or by ambush, the applicable
penalty is imprisonment for a term of more than twenty (20)
years and not more than twenty five (25) years.
• If violence or assault against the President of the Republic
causes death or is committed with intention to cause death
the applicable penalty is a life imprisonment. (Art 235)
Non-disclosure of a felony or misdemeanor

• Any person who has information of a felony or

a misdemeanor about to be committed or
which has been committed and fails to
immediately inform security, judicial or
administrative authorities when he/she is able
to do so, while this information could help to
prevent the commission or limit its effects
commits an offence.
 PENALTIES
• Upon conviction, he/she is liable to
imprisonment for a term of not less than six
(6) months and not more than one (1) year
and a fine of not less than one hundred
thousand (FRW 100,000) Rwandan francs and
not more than three hundred thousand ( FRW
300,000) Rwandan francs. (Art 243)
Failure to assist a person in danger
• Any person who fails to assist or seek
assistance for a person in danger while in a
position to do so and when there could be no
risk either for his/her personal action or for
the third party, commits an offence.
 PENALTIES
• Upon conviction, he/she is liable to
imprisonment for a term of not less than one
(1) year and not more than three (3) years and
a fine of not less than three hundred thousand
(FRW 300,000) Rwandan francs and not more
than five hundred thousand (FRW 500,000)
Rwandan francs. (Art 244)
 Obliteration of evidence
• Any person who, with an intention to obliterate
evidence, commits any of the following acts:
• 1º to change in any manner whatsoever, the state of
the premises of the commission of an offence;
• 2º to burn, destroy, conceal or alter, in any way
whatsoever evidence or any other object that could
facilitate the discovery of an offence, the
identification of the witness or the sentencing of the
perpetrators of the offence; commits an offence.
 PENALTIES
• A person convicted of any of the acts referred to under
Paragraph One of this Article is liable to a term of
imprisonment of not less than (2) years and not more than
three (3) years and a fine of not less than five hundred
thousand (FRW 500,000) Rwandan francs and not more
than one million (FRW 1,000,000)Rwandan francs.
• If the acts referred to under this Article are committed by
a person requested by judicial authorities to help disclose
the truth by virtue of his/her expertise or by any other
staff member of judicial organs, the penalty (Art 245).
 Refusal to testify
• Any person in possession of evidence of the
innocence of another person prosecuted or
convicted of a felony or a misdemeanour, who
deliberately refuses to give such evidence to
judicial authorities, commits an offence.
 PENALTIES
• Upon conviction, he/she is liable to imprisonment for a
term of not less than one (1) year and not more than two
(2) years and a fine of not less than three hundred
thousand (FRW 300,000) Rwandan francs and not more
than five hundred thousand (FRW 500,000) Rwandan
francs.
• Any person who possesses evidence on the commission
of a felony or misdemeanor and who deliberately refuses
to report such evidence to judicial authorities is liable to
the same penalties as those provided for in Paragraph
One of this Article. (Art 251)
 Refusal to answer questions from judicial
authorities

• Any person who knows a perpetrator of an

offence or the circumstances of the
commission of a felony or a misdemeanour
but refuses to answer questions from judges,
prosecutors and investigators, commits an
offence.
 PENALTIES
• Upon conviction, he/she is liable to a term of
imprisonment of not less than one (1) year but
less than two (2) years and a fine of not less
five hundred thousand (FRW 500,000)
Rwandan franc and not more than one million
(FRW 1,000,000) Rwandan francs or only one
of these penalties. (Art 252)
 Refusal to answer questions of the
intelligence or security organs
• Any person who refuses to answer questions
by intelligence or security officers in the
exercise of their duties or who deliberately
provides false answers to such questions
commits an offence.
 PENALTIES
• Upon conviction, he/she is liable to
imprisonment for a term of not less than one
(1) month and less than six (6) months and a
fine of not less than three hundred
thousand(FRW 300,000) Rwandan francs and
not more than five hundred thousand (FRW
500,000) Rwandan francs. (Art 253)
Non punishable in case of refusal to answer
questions
• Refusal to answer questions from judicial,
intelligence service and security organs is not
considered as an offence when the person
requested to answer considers that it may
result into self-incrimination (Art 254)
•  
 Giving false testimony
• Any person who deliberately gives false
testimony before judicial organs, commits an
offence.
 PENALTIES

• Upon conviction, he/she is liable to imprisonment for a term of not

less than one (1) year and not more than three (3) years, with a
fine of not less than five hundred thousand (FRW 500,000)
Rwandan francs and not more than one million (FRW 1,000,000)
Rwandan francs.
• If false testimony was produced in criminal case where the accused
was sentenced to imprisonment for a term of more than five (5)
years, the witness who, intentionally gave false testimony against
the accused is liable to imprisonment for a term of not less than
three (3) years and not more than five (5) years with a fine of not
less than one million Rwandan francs (1,000,000 FRW) and not
more than two million (FRW 2,000,000) Rwandan francs. (Art 255)
 Misleading witnesses or judges
• Any person who declares his/her opinions with
intention to mislead witnesses or a decision of a
judge before the case is determined, commits
an offence.
• Upon conviction, is liable to imprisonment for a
term of one (1) year to two (2) years and a fine
of one million Rwandan francs (FRW 1,000,000)
to two million Rwandan francs (FRW 2,000,000).
• (Art 256)
 Refusal to take oath before judicial or
intelligence organs
• Any person who is required to take oath before
judicial or intelligence organs but who refuses to
do so, commits an offence.
• Upon conviction, he/she is liable to imprisonment
for a term of not less than one (1) year and not
more than two (2) years with a fine of less than
three hundred thousand (FRW 300,000) Rwandan
francs and not more than five hundred thousand
(FRW 500,000) Rwandan francs. (Art 257)
Influencing assistants in judicial organs
• Any person who influences a witness, an expert or an
interpreter assisting in court to give false testimony,
commits an offence.
• Upon conviction, he/she is liable to imprisonment for
a term of not less than one (1) year and not more
than two (2) years with a fine of not less than five
hundred thousand (FRW 500,000) Rwandan francs
and not more than one million (FRW 1,000,000)
Rwandan francs. (Art 258)
•  
 False declarations by an expert before
judicial organs
• Any person called upon by judicial organs to
assist as an expert, an interpreter or a
translator, who deliberately declares or writes
false information, commits an offence. (Art
259)
 PENALTIES
• Upon conviction, he/she is liable to
imprisonment for a term of not less than three
(3) years and not more than five (5) years,
with a fine of not less than one million (FRW
1,000,000) Rwandan francs and not more than
two million (FRW 2,000,000).
Insulting or causing violence to personnel in
the judicial organs
• Any person who insults or causes violence to
an investigator, a prosecutor, a judge, an
advocate, a state attorney, a court clerk, a
court bailiff, umwunzi or an arbitrator on duty
or in connection with his/her duty, with an
intention to disgrace his/her dignity or
respect, by words, gestures or threats,
writings or by image of any nature, commits
an offence.
PENALTIES
• Upon conviction, he/she is liable to imprisonment
for a term of not less than one (1) year and not
more than two (2) years and a fine of not less than
one million (FRW 1,000,000) Rwandan francs and
not more than two million (FRW 2,000,000)
Rwandan francs.
• If the insults or violence are expressed during court
hearing, the penalty that applies is imprisonment for
a term of not less than two (2) years and not more
than three (3) years. (Art 260)
 OTHER RELATED OFFENCES
• Article 261: Threats against judicial personnel
• Article 262: Discrediting a decision of judicial
organs
 Use of narcotic drugs or psychotropic
substances
• Any person who, in any way, eats, drinks,
injects himself/herself, inhales or one who
anoints oneself with psychotropic substances,
commits an offence.
 PENALTIES
• Any person convicted of any of the acts mentioned in
Paragraph One of this Article is liable to imprisonment for a
term of not less than one (1) year and not more than two
(2) years or subject to a penalty of community service.
• Any person who, unlawfully produces, transforms,
transports, stores, gives to another or who sells narcotic
drugs and psychotropic substances commits an offence.
Upon conviction, he/she is liable to:
• 1º life imprisonment and a fine of more than twenty
(20.000.000 FRW)million Rwandan francs and not more
than thirty million (FRW 30,000,000) Rwandan francs in
regard to severe narcotic drugs;
 OTHER CIRCUMUMSTANCES
• 2º imprisonment for a term of not less than twenty (20) years and not
more than twenty five (25) years and a fine of not less than fifteen million
(FRW 15,000,000) Rwandan francs and not more than twenty million
(FRW 20,000,00000) Rwandan francs in regards to severe narcotic drugs;

• 3º imprisonment for a term of not less than seven (7) years and not more
than ten (10) years and a fine of not less than five million (FRW
5,000,000) Rwandan francs and less than ten million (FRW 10,000,000)
Rwandan francs in regard to simple narcotics.

• If acts mentioned in Paragraph 2 and 3 of this Article are performed to a

child or if they are performed at the international level, the penalty is a
life imprisonment and a fine of not more than thirty million (FRW
30,000,000) Rwandan francs and not more than fifty million (FRW
50,000,000) Rwandan francs. An Order of the Minister in charge of health
establishes a list of narcotic drugs that constitute each category. (Art 263)
 Facilitating a person to use narcotic drugs or
psychotropic substances

• Any person who facilitates another person to

use narcotic drugs or psychotropic substances,
commits an offence.
 PENALTIES
• Upon conviction, he/she is liable to imprisonment for
a term of not less than three (3) years and not more
than five (5) years with a fine of not less than three
million (FRW 3,000,000) Rwandan francs and not
more than five million (FRW 5,000,000) Rwandan
francs.
• The penalties referred to in Paragraph 2 of this
Article also apply to any person who gives narcotic
drugs or psychotropic substances on the basis of
prescriptions that clearly turn out not to be true. (Art
264)
 NOISE NUISANCE
• Any person who, unjustly or without an
authorization, makes noise likely to disturb
public, commits an offence.
 PENALTIES
• Upon conviction, he/she is liable to a fine of not less
than five hundred thousand (FRW 500,000)
Rwandan francs and not more than one million
Rwandan francs (FRW 1,000,000).
• In case of recidivism, the penalties is imprisonment
for a term of not less than eight (8) days and not
more than one (1) month and a fine of more than
one million Rwandan francs (FRW 1,000,000) and
not more than two million Rwandan francs (FRW
2,000,000) or only one of the penalties. (Art 267)
 Public drunkenness
• Any person who is drunk in public, in the
streets, squares, paths, bar, in a gymnasium or
any other public places, commits an offence.
 PENALTIES
• Upon conviction, he/she is liable to imprisonment for a term of
not less than eight (8) days but not more than two (2) months
and a fine of not more than twenty thousand Rwandan francs
(FRW 20,000) and not more than one hundred thousand
Rwandan francs (FRW 100,000) or only one of the penalties.
• If the bar operator and his/her staff accept to host any persons
in a state of excessive drunkenness in their facility and serve
them alcoholic beverages they are liable to imprisonment for a
term of not less than eight (8) days and not more than two (2)
months and a fine of not less than fifty thousand Rwandan
francs (FRW 50,000) and not more than two hundred thousand
Rwandan francs (FRW 200,000) or only one of the penalties.
(Art 268 RPC)
OFFENCES AGAINST PUBLIC CREDIBILITY

• Are the offences related to forgery of

documents, monies etc…..
 Counterfeit, falsification or alteration of
currency or monetary signs or their distribution

• Any person who, fraudulently counterfeits, falsifies

or alters coins or bank notes which are legal tender
in Rwanda or abroad, notes issued by the Treasury
with its stamp or brand, either banknotes or alike
that have legal tender in Rwanda or abroad, or one
who introduces or issues in Rwanda such effects or
notes with knowledge that they are forged or
falsified, commits an offence.
 PENALTIES
• Upon conviction, he/she is liable to imprisonment for a term of
not less than five (5) years and not more than seven (7) years.
• If the offence referred to in Paragraph One of this Article is
committed at the international level, the applicable penalty is an
imprisonment term of more than seven (7) years and not more
than ten (10) years and a fine of not less than seven million
Rwandan francs (FRW 7,000,000) and not more than ten million
Rwandan francs (FRW 10,000,000).
• Any person who knowingly acquires or receives coins or notes
knowing that it is falsified, even if he/she is not one of
counterfeiters or importers of such monies commits an offence.
Upon conviction, he/she is liable to imprisonment for a term not
less than one (1) year and not more than three (3) years. (Art 269)
 Damaging monies
• Any person who maliciously damages monies
commits an offence in term of article 270 of
RPC. Upon conviction, he/she is liable to
imprisonment for a term of not less than two
(2) months and not more than three (3)
months.
 Forgery, falsification and use of forged
documents
• Any person who, in any manner, forges or alters
documents by forged signature or fingerprint,
falsifying documents or signatures or impersonation,
forging agreements, its provisions, obligations, or
discharged obligations commits an offence.
• Any person who, with fraudulent intention, produces a
false written document, causes to write false
statements or produces a conflicting declaration, is
considered to commit the offence of forgery.
 PENALTIES

• Upon conviction, he/she is liable to imprisonment for a term of

not less than five (5) years but not more than seven (7) years and a
fine of not less than three million Rwandan francs (FRW
3,000,000) and not more than five million Rwandan francs (FRW
5,000,000) or only one of these penalties.
• Any person who, knowingly makes use of a forgery document in
any way, commits an offence. Upon conviction, he/she is liable to
penalties provided for in Paragraph 3 of this Article.
• If forgery is committed by a public servant or any other person in
charge of public service, the applicable penalty is an imprisonment
term of not less than seven (7) years and not more than ten (10)
years with a fine of not less than two million Rwandan francs (FRW
2,000,000) and not more than three million Rwandan francs (FRW
3,000,000) or only one of these penalties. (Art 276)
 Use of authority after termination of a service
in accordance with law
 
• Any person vested with public authority or
responsible for a public service mission or
elective mandate, who, having been notified
of the cessation of his/her duties or whose
term of office has expired and continues to
perform the said duties, commits an offence.
 PENALTIES
• Upon conviction, he/she is liable to
imprisonment for a term of not less than two
(2) years and not more than three (3) years
and a fine of not less than five hundred
thousand Rwandan francs (FRW 500,000) and
not more than one million Rwandan francs
(FRW 1,000,000). (Art 283)
 Commission of an act which violates
individual liberty
• Any person vested with public authority or
responsible for a public service mission who, in the
course of acting in the exercise or the exercise of
his/her duties, orders or personally performs an
act which violates an individual freedom, except
when provided for by the law, commits an offence.
• Upon conviction, he/she is liable to imprisonment
for a term of not less than three (3) years but more
than five (5) years. (Art 284)
MILITARY OFFENCES AND RELATED
• Are the offences which can be committed by
army forces and other related offences
 MILITARY OFFENCES
• 1º for military offences, the applicable penalties are provided for
in the provisions relating to the punishment of military offences;
• 2º military courts apply to common law offences committed by
soldiers between themselves or to other persons, the penalties
provided for by this Law and other provisions of ordinary
criminal laws;  
• 3º for the repression of the military offences, the state of
emergency is assimilated to the time of war. The military courts
apply to offences committed during the period of emergency the
penalties prescribed for offences committed in time of war. (Art
287)
 MILITARY PENALTIES
• The main penalties applicable to soldiers are
the following:
• 1º imprisonment;
• 2º a fine.
• Additional penalties applicable to soldiers are
the following:
• 1º stripping off military ranks;
• 2º demotion.
 Consequences of stripping off ranks (Art
292)
• 1 º deprivation of rank and the right to wear
related military insignias and uniform;
• 2 º inability to serve in Rwanda Defense Forces, in
any capacity;
• 3 º loss of the right of access to public
employment;
• 4 º loss of the right to vote and be elected;
• 5 º deprivation of the right to wear any decoration
or any other sign worn as a mark of honor.
Offences punishable by demotion (Art 293)

• The court may impose a penalty of demotion

against a soldier who commits military
offences or any of the following ordinary
offences:
• 1º drunkenness on duty;  
• 2º indecent assault;
• 3º aggravated assault or battery;
• 4º fraud;
 Consequences of Demotion (Art 294)
• A soldier sentenced to demotion loses his/her
rank and reverted to the rank preceding the
one he/she had for a period between six (6)
months and three (3) years.
• The soldier’s seniority in the rank is suspended
in case of demotion.
• The penalty of demotion does not apply to
soldiers holding the rank of private and second
lieutenant.
 INSUBORDINATION
• Any soldier who disobeys orders of his/her
superior or who deliberately refuses to obey
instructions given to him/her in relation to
military service commits the offence of
insubordination.
 PENALTIES
• Upon conviction, he/she is liable to imprisonment for a term of
not less than six (6) months and not more than one (1) year.
• If the offence of insubordination is committed by a non-officer
in wartime, the penalty is imprisonment for a term of not less
than one (1) year and not more than two (2) years. If the
convict is an officer, the applicable penalty is imprisonment for
a term of not less than five (5) years and not more than seven
(7) years. If insubordination is committed in the face of the
enemy, the officer is liable to imprisonment for term of not less
than ten (10) years and not more than fifteen (15) years, while
a non-officer is liable to imprisonment for a term of less than
three (3) years and not more than five (5) years.
 LACK OF LIABILITY
• However, disobeying instructions that are
contrary to the law is not qualified as
insubordination.
• (Art 301)
 REVOLT
• If two (2) or more soldiers refuse to obey
simultaneously the orders from their superior
they commit the offence of revolt.
 PENALTIES
• If convicted in peace time, they are liable to imprisonment
for a term of not less than three (3) months but less than
six (6) months. If revolt is committed in wartime, the
penalty is imprisonment for a term of not less than one (1)
year and not more than two (2) years.
• Soldiers who are convicted to have committed an offence
of a coordinated revolt, is liable to imprisonment for a
term of not less than one (1) year and not more than three
(3) years, if committed in peacetime. If a coordinated
revolt is committed in wartime, the applicable penalty is
imprisonment for a term of not less than five (5) years and
not more than seven (7) years.
 Aggravating circumstances
• The instigators or leaders of the revolt are liable to the
maximum penalty for this offence, depending on the time
and the terms of its commission.
• An officer convicted to have engaged in revolt with other
soldiers is liable to imprisonment for a term of not less than
three (3) years and not more than five (5) years. If he/she
commits such offence in wartime, the penalty is
imprisonment for a term of not less than seven (7) years and
not more than ten (10) years.
• If the revolt is committed in the face of the enemy, the
offender, whether officer or not, is liable to imprisonment for
a term of more than ten (10) years and not more than fifteen
(15) years. (Art 302)
 STRIKE
• Any soldier who engages in a strike, whether
with other military officers or civilians, commits
an offence. Upon conviction, he/she is liable to
imprisonment for a term of not less than six (6)
months and not more than one (1) year.
• If a soldier acts as an instigator, leader or
organizer of the strike, the penalty is an
imprisonment for a term of not less than one (1)
year, and not more than two (2) years. (Art 303)
 Murder of a superior
• Any soldier who kills a superior for work
reasons or on duty related reasons commits
an offence. When convicted, he/she is liable to
life imprisonment. (Art 308)

 
 PART II. ECONOMIC CRIMES
• Are the offences against property and those
related to economy of Country.
 THEFT
• taking another person’s property without
his/her consent with an intention to make it
his/her own property or use it.
 PENALTIES FOR THEFT
• Any person convicted of theft is liable to
imprisonment for a term of not less than one
(1) year and not more than two (2) years and a
fine of not less than one million Rwandan
francs (FRW 1,000,000) and not more than
two million Rwandan francs (FRW 2,000,000),
community service in a period of six (6)
months or only one of these penalties. (Art
166)
 MATERIAL ELEMENT OF THEFT
• The material characteristic element of theft is the
fraudulent removal. This act consists in hiding,
removing or taking hold of a thing without the
knowledge and against the will of the owner with
a view to keep it as the owner. Hence, one cannot
talk of theft when a thing is voluntarily donated by
the owner or the holder, unless the donation is
unconscious, meaning that the owner or holder is
nothing but a passive instrument.
 THINKS TO BE STOLEN
• It is worth noting that theft without object is
non-existent. The necessity of existence of the
thing is generally counted among the material
elements of theft, but a different opinion can
be that the thing cannot manifestly be
considered an actual constitutive element of
theft; it rather constitutes a pre-condition
without which the offence cannot be
committed.
 MORAL ELEMENT
• In order for theft to be characterised, the offender
must take the thing as the owner well knowing that
it belongs to another person that has not consented
to its removal. So, the fraudulent intent in theft
consists of the knowledge that the thing belongs to
someone else, the knowledge about the absence of
consent by the owner as well as the fact of behaving
and using the thing as the real owner. In principle,
one cannot steal one’s own thing. However, stealing
a thing that belongs to nobody is impossible.
AGGRAVATING CIRCUMSTANCES OF THEFT
• The penalty for theft doubles if:
• 1° the offender committed the crime through burglary, climbing or
possession of keys other than the owner;
• 2° the theft is carried out in an occupied house or in a building used
for habitation or in its surroundings;
• 3° the theft is carried out by a civil servant taking advantage of his/her
duties or a person responsible for any services of general interest;
• 4° the offender usurps false title or insignia of a civil servant or a
person responsible for services of general interest or with a false
mandate from public authority.
• 5° the theft is carried out during the night;
• 6° the theft is carried out by more than one (1) person.
Penalties for theft with violence or threats
• If theft is carried out with violence or threats, the penalty is an imprisonment
for a term of not less than five (5) years and not more than seven (7) years
and a fine of not less than three million Rwandan francs (FRW 3,000,000) and
not more than five million Rwandan francs (FRW 5,000,000).
• If the violence or threats used for theft resulted into illness or temporary loss
of working capacity, the offender is liable to imprisonment for a term of more
than seven (7) years and not more than ten (10) years. If the violence or
threats resulted into an incurable illness or a permanent loss of working
capacity or permanent loss of a body organ, the offender is liable to
imprisonment for a term of more than ten (10) years and not more than
fifteen (15) years.
• If the violence or threats are used with no intent to cause death but result in
death, the offender is liable to imprisonment for a term of not less than
twenty (20) years and not more than twenty-five (25) years. (Art 168)
Theft of a motor vehicle in order to take it in
another country
• Any person, who steals a motor vehicle in
order to take it in another country, commits
an offence. Upon conviction, he/she is liable
to imprisonment for a term of more than five
(5) years and not more than seven (7) years
with a fine of not less than five million
Rwandan francs (FRW 5,000,000) and not
more than ten million Rwandan francs (FRW
10,000,000). (169)
 Armed robbery
• Any person who carries out theft with a
weapon, commits armed robbery. Upon
conviction, he/she is liable to imprisonment
for a term of not less than ten (10) years and
not more than fifteen (15) years and a fine of
not less than five million Rwandan francs
(FRW 5,000,000) and not more than seven
million Rwandan francs ( FRW 7,000,000).
 AGGRAVATING CIRCUMSTANCES
• The penalty is an imprisonment for a term of not less than fifteen
(15) years and not more than twenty (20) years and a fine of not
less than five million Rwandan francs ( FRW 5,000,000) and not
more than seven million Rwandan francs (FRW 7,000,000) if:
• 1º the armed robbery is committed by more than one (1) person;
• 2º the weapon in possession is used;
• 3º the armed robbery is committed in a dwelling house or its
surroundings even if the house is temporarily inhabited or used as
workplace. If the armed robbery causes death or it is committed by
an organized gang, the penalty that applies is life imprisonment.
(Art 171)
 EXTORTION
• Any person who commits extortion by use of
violence or coercion and demands from
another person his/her signature, fingerprint
or is given any discreditable gain or payment,
commits an offence.
 DEFINITION OF EXTORTION
• Articles 171 of the RPC defines extortion as the
fact of obtaining from a person, by violence,
threat or constraint, a signature, fingerprints,
commitment or renunciation, revelation of a
secret, handing over of funds, security of funds,
securities (titres) or any other assets.
• The offender of extortion obtains a thing
forcefully or violently while the victim gets its
hand-over to the offender.
EXTORTION BY VIOLENCE OR CONSTRAINT

• This consist in obtaining a signature,

fingerprints or a handover of any document in
connection with or containing a debt, transfer
or discharge, by use of violence or constraint.
 Extortion by verbal or written threat,
disclosure of secret or defamation
• This consists in using verbal of written threat, disclosure
of secret or defamation with respect to another in order
to obtain in order to obtain money or cash value effects,
signature or hand over of any document in connection
with or containing a debt, transfer or discharge. This form
of is extortion is done by threatening to reveal secret or
unpleasant information which can be true or false. The
threat of revealing should be paired with the demand of
funds or value. The term “funds” designates a sum of
money whilst the term “value” implies whatever object
that can be cashed.
 MORAL ELEMENT OF EXTORTION
• Like theft, the extortion requires a special
fraud, that is, the intent of gaining or
providing someone else with an illicit benefit.
This results from the term “extortion” itself.
 PENALTIES
• Upon conviction, he/she is liable to
imprisonment for a term of not less than three
(3) years and not more than five (5) years and
a fine of not less than three million Rwandan
francs (FRW 3,000,000) and not more than
five million Rwandan francs (FRW 5,000,000).
(Art 171)
 FRAUD (ESCROQUERIE)
• Any person who, by deception, obtains
another person’s property, whole or part of
his/her finance by use of false names or
qualifications, or who offers positive promises
or who threatens of future misfortunes,
commits an offence.
 MATERIAL ELEMENT
• The offender must act in a way so that the victim accepts to do what
he/she would not do if he/she did not fall in the trap because of the lie.
The means used to commit fraud are the use of false names, the fact of
showing the wrong quality/title and the fraudulent manoeuvres.
• The use of wrong names is an element of fraud if to call oneself that
name is what lead to the crook to be given what he/she wanted.
• Showing title, the citizenship, the degree, the status, the profession.
These appear in different form such as showing wrong enterprise or an
imaginary power, rise of the hope of success, to intimidate with an
accident or any other bad event...
• It appears that the commission of the offence of fraud may be
accompanied with other offences like the use of forged documents with
the aim of supporting the lie.
• The property must be given to the crook (escroc) in his hand or
delivered to him via somebody else (i.e post office or transporter).
 Moral element
Fraud is an offence that is committed by the
offender knowing that what he/she is doing is
a lies or fraudulent manoeuvres with the
purpose of appropriating a third party’s
property.
 EXAMPLES OF FRAUD
• The fact of calling oneself a police officer in charge of issuing
driving licences and ask money with promises to give driving
licences in return
• The fact of collecting money lying that it will be invested into
action of charity which, in reality does not exist or is imaginary
• The fact of saying that you have a power to multiply money., to
make rain fall, to treat a fatal disease .
• The fact of collecting money from people by telling that you
will influence a court decision
• The fact of lying that there was an a road accident and claim
compensation from an insurance company.
 PENALTIES
• In term of article 174 of RPC upon conviction, he/she is liable to
imprisonment for a term of not less than two (2) years and not
more than three (3) years, and a fine of not less than three million
Rwandan francs (FRW 3,000,000) and not more than five million
Rwandan francs (FRW 5,000,000).
• If this offence is committed by a person who intends to issue
shares, shareholders’ bills, securities, bonds, vouchers or any other
cash value, either for a business company, trading company or
industry, the applicable penalty is an imprisonment for a term of
not less than three (3) years and not more than five (5) years with a
fine of more than five million Rwandan francs (FRW 5,000,000) and
not more than seven million Rwandan francs (FRW 7,000,000).
 Non-payment of bills (Grivèlerie)
• Any person who, knowing that he/she is
unable to pay, orders for any item which
cannot be re-used or returned back, commits
an offence.
 PENALTIES
• Upon conviction, he/she is liable to imprisonment for a term of
not less than fifteen (15) days and not more than two (2) months,
a fine of not less than one hundred thousand Rwandan francs
(FRW 100,000) and not more than two hundred thousand
Rwandan francs (FRW 200,000) and community service in a period
of not more than fifteen (15) days or only one of these penalties.
• Payment of the billed items and the money spent to recover them
as well as court costs by the defendant or withdrawal of the case
by the plaintiff terminate the prosecution.
• The offence provided for under Paragraph One of this Article
results into prosecution only if the aggrieved party complains. (art
175)
BREACH OF TRUST (ABUS DE CONFIANCE)

• Any person who is given or entrusted with an

item and who is obliged to return it or use it as
instructed but who misappropriates,
embezzles, scatters or gives it to another
person, commits an offence.
 PENALTIES
• According article 176 of Rwandan penal codes
states that, upon conviction, he/she is liable to
imprisonment for a term of not less than three
(3) years and not more than five (5) years and
a fine of not less than five hundred thousand
Rwandan francs (FRW 500,000) and not more
than one million Rwandan francs (FRW
1,000,000).
 Damaging or plundering another person’s
property
• Any person who, maliciously damages or plunders
movable or immovable property of another person,
commits an offence. Upon conviction, he/she is
liable to imprisonment for a term of not less than
two (2) months, and less than six (6) months with a
fine of not less than three hundred thousand
Rwandan francs (FRW 300,000) and not more than
five hundred thousand Rwandan francs (FRW
500,000) or only one of these penalties. (Art 186)
 CORRUPTION
• Any person who solicits, accepts or receives, by any
means, an illegal benefit for himself/
• herself or another person or accepts a promise in
order to render or omit a service under his or her
mandate or uses his or her position to render or omit
a service commits an offence.
• Upon conviction, he/she is liable to imprisonment for
a term of more than five (5) years but not more than
seven (7) years with a fine of three (3) to five (5) times
the value of the illegal benefit solicited received.
 PENALTIES
• Penalties provided under Paragraph 2 of this Article apply
to a person who offers or promises to offer a benefit, by
any means, an illegal benefit for him/ herself or another
person to have a service rendered or omitted. If acts
referred to in Paragraph One and 3 of this Article are
committed in order to perform an act contrary to law, the
penalty is imprisonment for a term of more than seven (7)
years and not more than ten (10) years with a fine of
three (3) to five (5) times the value in Rwandan francs of
the illegal benefit received or offered. (Art 4 Anti
corruption Law)
 Types and forms of corruption
• Although corruption may take different forms
as provided by the law traditionally,
corruption has two forms: passive corruption
and active corruption.
 PASSIVE CORRUPTION
• Corruption is passive when a person explicitly or implicitly
demands or directly or indirectly receives a gift or any other
illegal benefit for him/herself or another person or accepts it as
a promise in order to:
• -offer a service under his mandate,
• -accomplish an illegal act or refrain from carrying out his/her
duties
• There also passive corruption when a person explicitly implicitly
or demands or benefits from, or accepts favours of sexual
nature as a promise in order to accomplish a duty, accomplish
an illegal act or refrain from carrying out his/her duty
 MATERIAL ELEMENT
• Demanding, receiving or accepting the promise,
• Explicitly or implicitly demanding, directly or
indirectly receiving gifts or illicit profits or
accepting their promise.
• The law does not define the form of gifts or
profits demanded, received or promised. This
indicates therefore that it can be of any kind
(money, objects, etc).
 Active corruption
• Active corruption can exist independently
from the passive corruption. The act of the
corruptor is not an act of legal participation to
the act of the offender who let himself or
herself be corrupted. The active corruption is
committed in order to obtain the
accomplishment of a legal or illegal act or
abstention from committing an act.
 MATERIAL ELEMENT
• The material act of the active corruption consists in offering, or in
promising gifts or illicit profits of any kind to a person in charge of
a function with a view to obtain the accomplishment of an act
either legal or illegal or abstaining from doing a legal act.
• It should be noted that active corruption can be done either for
the corrupting offender himself or herself or for any other
person.
• The law apply independently from the criminal or non-criminal
character of the act for the advantage sought by the corruptor.
The active corruption constitutes a formal offence which is
committed whether the corruption produces its effects or not.
 MORAL ELEMENT
• The active corruption is an intentional crime.
In order for this crime to be considered, the
offender must know that the acts he/she
commits are illegal and they aim at violating a
professional duty.
Solicit or receive an illegal benefit by person
who makes or executes justice decisions

• Any judge or arbitrator who receives or solicits an illegal benefit,

commits an offence.
• Any court registrar, prosecutor, assistant to prosecutor, advocate,
State attorney in court, professional bailiff, a court judgment review
officer, investigator or person summoned as expert in court, an
officer from Access to Justice Bureau who solicits or receives or
accepts to receive an illicit benefit or promise thereof as a
condition for accomplishing his or her responsibilities or in order to
refrain from
• carrying out any usual duty or exert an influence resulting in a
decision contrary to the law, commits an offence.
 PENALTIES
• Any judge or arbitrator who receives or solicits an illegal benefit, commits an
offence.
• Upon conviction, he/she is liable of imprisonment of not less than ten (10)
years but not more than twelve (12) years and a fine of three (3) to five (5)
times the value in Rwandan francs of the illegal benefit solicited.
• Any court registrar, prosecutor, assistant to prosecutor, advocate, State
attorney in court, professional bailiff, a court judgment review officer,
investigator or person summoned as expert in court, an officer from Access
to Justice Bureau who solicits or receives or accepts to receive an illicit
benefit or promise thereof as a condition for accomplishing his or her
responsibilities or in order to refrain from
• carrying out any usual duty or exert an influence resulting in a decision
contrary to the law, commits an offence. Upon conviction, he/she is liable to
imprisonment for a term of more than seven (7) years but not more than ten
(10) years with a fine of three (3) to five (5) times the value in Rwandan
francs of the illegal benefit received, solicited or was promised. (Art 5 Anti
corruption)
Soliciting or offering sexual favors
• Any person who, by any means, solicits,
accepts or promises a given favor of sexual
nature or subjects another person to such
favor or accepts a promise thereof in order to
render
• or omit a service commits an offence.
 PENALTIES
• Upon conviction, he/she is liable to imprisonment for a term
more than five (5) years and not more than seven (7) years
with a fine of not less than one million Rwandan francs ( FRW
1,000,000) and not exceeding two million Rwandan francs
(FRW 2,000,000).
• When the favor of sexual nature was done in order for the
beneficiary of such a favor to perform a service contrary to the
law, the punishment is an imprisonment for a term of more
than seven (7) years but not more than ten (10) years with a
fine of not less than two million (FRW 2,000,000) but not more
than three million Rwandan francs (FRW3,000,000). (Art 6)
 Influence peddling
• Any person who, by any means, exerts
influence in making a decision for his or her
own benefit or another person’s benefit,
commits an offence.
 PENALTIES
• Upon conviction, he/she is liable to imprisonment for a
term of more than five (5) years and not more than seven
(7) years with a fine of not less than three million rwandan
francs (FRW 3,000,000) and not more than five million
Rwandan francs (FRW 5,000,000).
• If the influence resulted into receiving or being promised
an illegal benefit, the penalty is
• imprisonment for a term of more than five (5) years but
not more than seven (7) years with a fine of five (5) to ten
(10) times the value of the illegal benefit.
•  
 INFLUENCE BASED ON SEXUAL FAVOR
• If an influence was result of receiving or being
promised sexual favour, the punishment is
• imprisonment for a term more than five (5) years and
not more than seven (7) years with a fine of more
than two million Rwandan francs ( FRW 2,000,000) but
not more than three
• million Rwandan francs (FRW 3,000,000). A person
who offers an illegal benefit or sexual favour for
influence peddling is liable to the penalties provided
under Paragraphs 3 and 4 of this Article. (Art 7)
 Making a decision based on favoritism,
friendship, hatred, acquaintances or nepotism

• Any person in charge of providing service to people who

makes a decision based on favoritism, friendship, hatred,
acquaintances or nepotism to any person who seeks a
service, commits an offence.
• Upon conviction, he/she is liable to imprisonment for a
term of more than five (5) years but not more than seven
(7) years with a fine of not less than one million Rwandan
francs (FRW 1,000,000) but not more than two million
Rwandan francs (FRW 2,000,000). (Art 8)
•  
 Illicit enrichment
• Any person who cannot justify the source of
his or her assets compared with his or her
lawful income commits an offence.
• Upon conviction, he/she is liable to
imprisonment for a term of not less than seven
(7) years but not more than ten (10) years with
a fine of three (3) to five (5) times the value of
the property the legal source of which, he/she
is not able to justify. (Art 9)
 EMBEZZLEMENT
• Any person, whether public servant or any other agent
in charge of public service or working within public
organs, an officer or an employee of a commercial
institution, a company or a cooperative, an agent of an
individual, a religious-based organization or any other
organization who embezzles for personal or someone
else’s interests property, funds or securities entrusted
to him or her by virtue of his or her office, or any
person who uses for personal gains, the staff under his
or her authority commits an offence.
 PENALTIES
• In term of art 10 of law fighting corruption
states that upon conviction, he/she is liable to
imprisonment for a term of not less than
seven (7) years but not more than ten (10)
years and a fine of three (3) to five (5) times
the value equivalent to the value of the
embezzled property.
•  
 Use of public property for unintended
purposes
• Any person vested with public authority or in
charge of a public service mission who uses
State budget funds or other public property
for the purposes for which they were not
intended,
• without prior authorization of competent
authority, commits an offence.
 PENALTIES
• Upon conviction, he/she is liable to
imprisonment for a term of more than five (5)
years but not more than seven (7) years and a
fine of not less than three million Rwandan
francs (FRW 3,000,000) and not more than
five million Rwandan francs (FRW 5,000,000).
(Art 11)
 Misuse of property of public interest
• Any person who is entrusted with power to
manage property of general interest, whether
• owned by a public or private institution, a
company, a cooperative, a non-governmental
• organization with legal personality, who uses
such property for purposes other than what it is
intended or lets it perish or does not preserve it
or uses it illegally, commits an offence.
 PENALTIES
• Upon conviction, he/she is liable to
imprisonment for a term of more than five (5)
years but not more than seven (7) years and a
fine of not less than three million Rwandan
• francs (FRW 3,000,000) and not more than
five million Rwandan francs (FRW5,000,000).
• (Art 12)
 ILLEGAL EXEMPTION
• Any employee who, for any reason
whatsoever and without being authorized by a
law, exempts in any form, taxes, duties, fines,
security or other required fees, or gives free of
• charge or at a lower price a public property or
that of any other institution, commits an
• offence.
 PENALTIES
• Upon conviction, he/she is liable to
imprisonment for a term of more than five (5)
years but not more than seven (7) years and a
fine of three (3) to five (5) times the value of
the exemption, the value of the property given
free of charge or at a lower price. (Art 13)
Demanding or receiving undue or excessive
money
• Any employee who knowingly demands undue
money or receives an excessive amount of money
for a service fee, duties, tax, fine or security, income
or interests, benefits or salaries of employees,
commits an offence. Upon conviction, he/she is
liable to imprisonment for a term of more than five
(5) years but not more than seven (7) years and a
fine of three (3) to five (5) times the value in
Rwandan francs of the illegal benefit demanded or
received. (Art 14)
 Abuse of functions
• Any public servant or any other person
holding a public office who abuses his/ her
position or
• powers he/she holds by virtue of that position
and performs or omits to perform an act, in
• violation of laws, for the purpose of obtaining
an illegal benefit for himself/herself or for
another person, commits an offence.
 PENALTIES
• Upon conviction, he/she is liable to imprisonment for a
term of not less than seven (7) years but not more than
ten (10) years and a fine of not less than five million
Rwandan francs (FRW 5,000,000) but not more than ten
million Rwandan francs (FRW 10,000,000).Where the
offence is committed with the aim of getting a profit
valuable in money, the penalty becomes imprisonment for
a term of not less than seven (7) years and not more than
ten (10) years and a fine of three (3) to five (5) times the
value of the illegal benefit solicited. (Art 15)
•  
 Appropriation of unlawful favors
• Any person who: 1° gives to himself or herself or accepts
for himself or herself in violation of laws governing him
or her, whether explicitly or implicitly or by means of an
intermediary any kind of benefits, from services or
tenders, in public services or private sector, in which that
person has or had, at the time of commission of the act,
administration or control powers in whole or in part; in
violation of laws governing him or her, profits from a
service which he or she was in charge of authorizing
payment or liquidation; commits an offence.
 PENALTIES
• Any person convicted of one of the acts
referred to under Paragraph One of this
Article, is liable to imprisonment for a term of
more than five (5) years but not more than
seven (7) years and a fine of three (3) to five
(5) times the value in Rwandan francs of the
illegal benefit received. (Art 16).
 Corruption committed by a person in
leadership position
• When the acts constituting the offences
referred to under Article 4 to Article 16 have
been committed by a person in leadership
position in public organs, private sector, in civil
society and in international organizations
operating in Rwanda, that leader is liable to
the highest penalty for that offence. (Art 17)
 Corruption committed by companies,
cooperatives, institutions and
organizations with legal personality

• Companies, cooperatives, institutions and

organizations with legal personality convicted
of the offence of corruption are liable to a fine
of seven (7) to ten (10) times the value of the
illicit benefit received or accepted, solicited,
given or promised. (Art 18)
Exemption from criminal liability for corruption

• A person who gives or receives an illegal benefit with

the aim of helping justice organs to get evidences for
the offence of corruption is not considered as having
committed an offence, if he or she informs the judicial
organs before the occurrence of the act.
• There is no criminal liability for a person who gives or
receives an illegal benefit and informs
• the justice organs before the commencement of
criminal investigation by providing information and
evidence. (Art 19)
 BOUNCING CHEQUES
• Is to deliver a cheque to some one without
monies in the bank account.
 BOUNCING CHEQUE
• In term of law N 47/2018 of 13/8/2018
modifying law N0 3/2010 of 26/2/2010
concerning payment system as modified to
date. Any person who bouncing a cheque
knowing that he has not sufficient funds to
pay it commit a crime.
 Constitutive elements
• 1. Any person knowingly issues a cheque;
• 2. Withdraws after issuing a cheque for all or
part of the funds or prevent payment except
in the case of loss or fraudulent withdraw,
bankruptcy or incapacity to receive payment;
• Issues a cheque from another person knowing
that there are not funds.
 Penalties
• Upon conviction he/she is liable to
imprisonment for a term of 2 to 5 years and 5
to 10 times the amount states on the cheque
(Art 3).
• Other related offences (Art 4-5)
 CHARACTER OF BOUNCING CHEQUE

• Is when it can be paid due to lack of funds on

the drower’s account within validity period.
• Is drown on a closed account. (Art 6 of
regulations 2310/2018-00018 (614) of
27/12/2018 of National Bank of Rwanda
relating to bouncing cheque) in OG Special
number.
 PENALTIES
• Without prejudice to criminal sanctions ,The
offender cannot access to credit facilities in all
banks and financial institutions;
• Cannot have a new cheque book
• Cannot be allowed to open a new account.
• (Art 7 of regulations 2310/2018-00018 (614) of
27/12/2018 of National Bank of Rwanda relating
to bouncing cheque) in OG Special number.
 BUNKRUPTCY
• In term of art 293 and 295 of law N 17/2018 of
13/4/2018 governing companies punish the
offence of simple bunkruptcy and those of
grave bunkruptcy.
 Simple bankruptcy
• Any insolvent business person who for his
personal interest or his family interest incurs
excessive expenses, fails to pay taxes, favors
one of the creditors , dissimulate , purchase
etc… he commits an offence punishable
between 6 and 2 years and 500.000 FR to 3
000000 RF or one penalties
 Grave bankruptcy
• The one who misappropriate , conceals all or
part of his assets , accept debts that he/she
does not owe , conceals his books of account
he commit an offence.
• Upon conviction is punishable by the penalties
of imprisonment between 1 to 3 years and
payment of fine between 100.000 up to
1.000.000 RF.
 HUMAN TRAFFICKING
• In term of art 18 of law N0 51/2018 relating to
prevention, suppression and punishment of
trafficking in persons and exploitation. States that
any persons convicted of trafficking in persons that
is liable to imprisonment of 10 to 15 years and
payment of fine between 10.000.000 RF up to
15.000.000 RF.
• If the trafficking is transnational is punishable of 20-
25 years of imprisonment and 20.000.000 up to
25.000.000 RF.
 CRIME OF GENOCIDE, IDEOLOGY AND ITS
RELATED CRIMES
• Are the crimes which are punishable by the
Law in Rwanda if committed.
 IDEOLOGY OF GENOCIDE
• A person who, in public, either verbally, in
writing, through images or in any other
manner, commits an act that manifests an
ideology that supports or advocates for
destroying, in whole or in part, a national,
ethnic, racial or religious group, commits an
offence.
 PENALTIES
• Upon conviction, he/she is liable to
imprisonment for a term of not less than five
(5) years and not more than seven (7) years,
with a fine of not less than five hundred
thousand Rwandan francs ( FRW 500,000) and
not more than one million Rwandan francs
(FRW 1,000,000). (Art 4 of Ideology of
genocide)
 DENIAL OF GENOCIDE
• A person who, in public, commits an act intended to:
• 1º state or indicate that the genocide is not
genocide;
• 2º distort the facts about genocide for the purpose
of misleading the public;
• 3º affirm that there was double genocide in Rwanda;
• 4º state or indicate that the genocide was not
planned;
 PENALTIES
• Upon conviction of any of the acts referred to
in Paragraph One of this Article, he/she is
liable to imprisonment for a term of not less
than five (5) years and not more than seven (7)
years, with a fine of not less than five hundred
thousand Rwandan francs (FRW 500,000) and
not more than one million Rwandan francs
(FRW 1,000,000).
•  
 Minimization of genocide
• A person who, in public and deliberately,
manifests a behaviour intended to:
• 1º minimize the gravity or consequences of
the genocide;
• 2º the lessen the means through which
genocide was committed;
• 3º providing wrong statistics about the victims
of the Genocide;
 PENALTIES
• Upon conviction of any of the acts referred to
in Paragraph One of this Article, he/she is
liable to imprisonment for a term of not less
than five (5) years and not more than seven
(7) years, with a fine of not less than five
hundred thousand Rwandan francs (FRW
500,000) and not more than one million
Rwandan francs (FRW1, 000,000). (Art 6)
 Justification of Genocide.
• A person who, deliberately and in public,
commits any act intended to:
• 1 º glorify genocide;
• 2 º support genocide;
• 3 º legitimize genocide;
 PENALTIES
• Upon conviction of any of the acts referred to
in Paragraph One of this Article, he/she is
liable to imprisonment for a term of not less
than five (5) years and not more than seven
(7) years, with a fine of not less than five
hundred thousand Rwandan francs (FRW
500,000) and not more than one million
Rwandan francs (FRW1, 000,000). (Art 7)
 Disposing of or degrading evidence or
information relating to genocide
• A person who, deliberately, conceals, destroys,
eliminates or degrades evidence or information
relating to genocide, commits an offence.
• Upon conviction of any of the acts referred to in
Paragraph One of this Article, he/she is liable to
imprisonment for a term of not less than seven (7)
years and not more than nine (9) years, and a fine of
not less than five hundred thousand Rwandan francs
(FRW 500,000) and not more than one million
Rwandan francs (FRW 1,000,000). (Art 8)
Stealing or destroying bodies of the victims
of genocide
• A person who commits any of the following
acts:
• 1° stealing bodies of the victims of genocide;
• 2° deliberately degrading or damaging bodies
of the victims of genocide;
 PENALTIES
• Upon conviction of any of the acts referred to in
Paragraph One of this Article, he/she is liable to
imprisonment for a term of not less than ten
(10) years and not more than fifteen (15) years,
and a fine of not less than one million Rwandan
francs (FRW 1,000,000) and not more than two
million Rwandan francs (FRW 2,000,000). (9)
•  
•  
 Demolishing, damaging or desecrating a
memorial site or a place where bodies of the
victims of genocide are laid to rest

• A person who deliberately commits any of the following acts:

• 1° demolishing or damaging a memorial site or a place where bodies of the victims of
genocide are laid to rest;
• 2° demolishing or damaging symbols of a memorial site or a place where bodies of the
victims of genocide are laid to rest;
• 3° desecrating a memorial site or a place where bodies of the victims of genocide are laid to
rest;
 PENALTIES
• Upon conviction of any of the acts referred to
in Paragraph One of this Article, he/she is
liable to imprisonment for a term of not less
than ten (10) years and not more than fifteen
(15) years, and a fine of not less than one
million Rwandan francs (FRW 1,000,000) and
not more than two million Rwandan francs
(FRW 2,000,000). ( Art 10)
 Violence against a survivor of genocide

• A person who manifests a behavior or

commits an act, intended to harass,
intimidate, dehumanize, recall boastfully the
wrong he/ she has done, mock, insult a person
or destroy his/her property, on the ground
that the victim is a survivor of genocide
commits an offence.
 Penalties
• Upon conviction of any of the acts referred to
in Paragraph One of this Article, he/she is
liable to imprisonment for a term of not less
than five (5) years and not more than seven
(7) years, and a fine of not less than five
hundred thousand Rwandan francs (FRW
500,000) and not more than one million
Rwandan francs (FRW 1,000,000). (Art 11)
 Crime of genocide ideology and related
crimes by
institutions, political organizations
or other organizations
• The offences referred to in provisions of this Law are punished under the
same a fine provided for under the same provisions if they are committed by:
• 1° a non-government entity or company;
• 2° a cooperative;
• 3° a non-government organisation enjoying legal personality;
• 4° a political organisation.
• The court may, in addition to the penalty of a fine, order dissolution of an
entity referred to in items 1o, 2o, 3 and 4o of Paragraph One of this Article or
prohibition of its operations in Rwanda. ( Art 12)
 CYBER CRIMES
• Are the offences committed and punishable
according Rwandan Law.
 Obligations of service provider
• 1° take reasonable steps to inform its clients of
cybercrimes trends which affect or may affect them;
• 2° establish procedures for its clients to report
cybercrimes;
• 3° inform its clients of measures they may take in
order to safeguard themselves against cybercrimes;
• 4° disclose abuses to the concerned victim and to the
cyber security organ that infractions are committed.
(Art 4)
 Illegal use of computer system
• Any service provider who is aware or informed that its
computer or computer system or electronic
communication network is being used to commit an
offence provided for in this Law must:
• 1º immediately report what is being committed to the
authority in charge of cyber security;
• 2º preserve any information which may be of assistance in
investigating the offence, including particularly information
which shows the communication’s origin, destination,
route, time, date, size, duration and the type of the
underlying services. (Art 5)
 Obligation to collaborate with organs in
charge of investigations
• Without prejudice to other laws, a person who is
required to cooperate with the organ in charge of
investigations or prosecution must in particular:
• 1° respond to any inquiry about the investigation;
•  
• 2° comply with any lawful directions including disclosing
access code to a computer system;
•  
• 3° disclose all data required for the purposes of
investigation and of prosecution of an offence. (8)
 Unauthorized access to a computer or a
computer system data
• Any person who intentionally and unlawfully gets access
to computer or computer system data and he/she:  
• 1° does not have consent from any person who is so
entitled;
• 2° is not entitled to control and access to the computer
or computer system data;
• 3° accesses another person’s computer system without
authorization, in order to know recorded or transmitted
data, by all means and regardless of the location;
 PENALTIES
• Upon conviction of one of the offences
referred to in Paragraph One of this Article,
he/she is liable to imprisonment for a term of
not less than six (6) months and not more
than two (2) years and a fine of not less than
one million Rwandan francs (FRW 1,000,000)
and not more than two million Rwandan
francs (FRW 2,000,000). (Art 16)
 Access to data with intent to commit an
offence
• Any person who, with intent to commit an offence,
causes a computer system or a computer to perform
any function for the purpose of securing access to any
program or data held in any computer system,
commits an offence.
• Upon conviction, he/she is liable to imprisonment for
a term of not less than one (1) year and not more than
two (2) years and a fine of not less than one million
Rwandan francs (FRW 1,000,000) and not more than
three million Rwandan francs (FRW 3,000,000). (17)
 Unauthorized modification of computer
system data
• A person who knowingly commits an act which
causes unauthorised modification of data held in a
computer or computer system, commits an offence.
• Upon conviction, he/she liable to imprisonment for
a term of not less than one (1) year and not more
than two (2) years and a fine of not less than one
million Rwandan francs (FRW 1,000,000) and not
more than three million Rwandan francs (FRW
3,000,000). (Art 18)
 Interception of computer system
• Any person who, knowingly and by any means,
without authorization by law, intercepts or
causes to be intercepted, directly or indirectly,
any function or any data for the purpose of
obtaining any computer or computer system
service, any function or any data held in a
computer, commits an offence.
 PENALTIES
• Upon conviction, he/she is liable to imprisonment for a term
of not less than one (1) year and not more than two (2) years
and a fine of not less than one million Rwandan francs (FRW
1,000,000) and not more than three million Rwandan francs
(FRW 3,000,000).
• If the interception under Paragraph One of this Article
relates to State secrets, or national security, the offender is
liable to imprisonment for a term of not less than two (2)
years and not more than five (5) years and a fine of not less
than one million Rwandan francs (FRW 1,000,000) and not
more than two million Rwandan francs (FRW 2,000,000). (19)
 SPAMMING
• Any person who, intentionally and without
authorisation from a competent organ:
• 1° sends unsolicited messages repeatedly or to a large
number of persons by use of a computer or a computer
system;
• 2° after receiving a message, uses a computer or a
computer system to retransmit such a message to many
• persons or retransmit it several times to a person who
doesn’t need it;
• commits an offence.
 PENALTIES
• Upon conviction, he/she is liable to imprisonment
for a term of not less than three (3) months and
not more than six (6) months and a fine of not less
than three hundred thousand Rwandan francs
(FRW 300,000) and not more than five hundred
thousand Rwandan francs (FRW 500,000).
• The prosecution of offenses under this Article are
instituted only upon complaint of the offended
person. (37)
 Publishing indecent information in
electronic form
• Any person who publishes, transmits or causes
to be published any indecent message using a
computer or a computer system, commits an
offence.
 PENALTIES
• Upon conviction, he/she is liable to imprisonment for a term of
not less than six (6) months and not more than two (2) years
and a fine of not less than one million Rwandan francs (FRW
1,000,000) and not more than two million Rwandan francs
(FRW 2,000,000).
• When the indecent message referred to in Paragraph one of
this Article is not true or is directed against a child, the offender
is liable to imprisonment for a term of not less than three (3)
years and not more than five (5) years and a fine of not less
than one million Rwandan francs (FRW 1,000,000) and not
more than three million Rwandan francs (FRW 3,000,000). (38)
 Publication of rumors
• Any person who, knowingly and through a computer or
a computer system, publishes rumours that may incite
fear, insurrection or violence amongst the population or
that may make a person lose their credibility, commits
an offence.
• Upon conviction, he/she is liable to imprisonment for a
term of not less than three (3) years and not more than
five (5) years and a fine of not less than one million
Rwandan francs (FRW 1,000,000) and not more than
three million Rwandan francs (FRW 3,000,000). (39)
 IMPERSONATION
• Any person who intentionally uses somebody identity over
the internet in bad faith to profit, mislead or destroy
reputation or otherwise, if such identity is similar,
undistinguishable, or confusingly similar to an existing
name or description that belongs to another person or
organ, commits an offence.
• Upon conviction, he/she is liable to imprisonment for a
term of not less than three (3) years and not more than
five (5) years and a fine of not less than one million
Rwandan francs (FRW 1,000,000) and not more than three
million Rwandan francs (FRW 3,000,000). (40)
Creation or publication of a site for terrorist
groups
• Any person who establishes, publishes or uses
a site of a terrorist group using Internet, a
computer or a computer system in order to
facilitate communication by its leadership
• or its members, raise its funds or disseminate
its ideas or knowledge of how it operates,
commits an offence.
 PENALTIES
• Upon conviction, he/she is liable to
imprisonment for a term of not less than
fifteen (15) years and not more than twenty
(20) years and a fine of not less than twenty
million Rwandan francs (FRW 20,000,000) and
not more than fifty million Rwandan francs
(FRW 50,000,000). (Art 41)
 Creation or publication of a site for the
purpose of trafficking in persons
• Any person who establishes or publishes a site on an
information network, computer hardware or computer
system for the purposes of trafficking in human beings
or facilitating such a transaction, commits an offence.
• Upon conviction, he/she is liable to imprisonment for a
term of not less than ten (10) years and not more than
fifteen (15) years and a fine of not less than ten million
Rwandan francs (FRW 10,000,000) and not more than
fifteen million Rwandan francs (FRW 15,000,000). (Art
42)
Creation or publication of a site for trafficking
or distributing drugs
or narcotics
• Any person who creates or publishes a site on
an information network, computer hardware
or computer system act for the purposes of
trafficking in or distributing drugs or narcotics
or facilitating such a transaction commits an
offence.
 PENALTIES
• Upon conviction, he/she is liable to
imprisonment for a term of not less than
seven (7) years and not more than ten (10)
years and a fine of not less than seven million
Rwandan francs (FRW 7,000,000) and not
more than ten million Rwandan francs (FRW
10,000,000). (Art 43)
 Penalties imposed on a business entity
having committed an offence
• Without prejudice to the provisions of this
Law, a business entity that commits one of the
offences provided under this Law, when
convicted, it is liable to a fine equal to thirty
percent (30%) and not more than seventy
percent (70%) of the profits received in the
accounting period of the year in which the
offence was committed. (Art 51)
 Additional Penalties
• Except penalties provided for under this Law, the
competent court may, in all cases, order the confiscation
of a computer or a computer system, software or media
used in the commission of any of the offences provided for
in this Law and the proceeds gained.
• The court may also, permanently or temporary for the
period that it considers appropriate, order the closure of
the premise or corporate body in which any of the
offences provided for in this Law has been committed, if
the offence was committed with the knowledge of their
owner or management. (Art 52)
 TRAFFICKING OF BODY ORGANS
• Prohibition of selling on the human body or its products
• Article 4 of Law nº 04/2010 of 16/4/2010 regulating therapeutic, educational
and scientific utilisation of organs and products of the human body is modified as
follows:
• “It is forbidden to sell organs of human body and its products. The following acts
are also prohibited:
• 1 º amputation and transplantation of organs, tissues and products as well as use
of the human body for experiment for commercial purposes;
• 2 º request of a price by someone who offers his or her body for experiment, or
accept that organs or products of his or her body be used for therapeutic
purposes.
• Subject to provision of Paragraph One of this article, the blood components
willingly donated may be sold to get means for treatment of other patients,
upon decision of competent organ.
• An Order of the Minister in charge of health determines blood component which
may be sold and the procedure thereof.”
Removal of a human body organ or other
body product which may be harmful
• Any person who removes a human body organ or other
body product from a person with a disease which can
affect the health of the donor or the recipient, commits
an offense. Upon conviction, he or she is liable to
imprisonment for a term of not less than two (2) years
and not more than three (3) years with a fine of not less
than three million Rwandan francs (FRW 3,000,000) and
not more than five million Rwandan francs (FRW
5,000,000) francs or one of these penalties.” (Art 17).
Removal of a single and indispensable organ

• Any person who removes a single and

essential body organ which is vital to the
preservation of life and which cannot
regenerate, commits an offense. Upon
conviction he or she is liable to life
imprisonment.” (Art 18)
 Cut of a person’s organ by a doctor without a
death certificate

• Any doctor who cuts an organ without

presenting a death certificate issued by a doctor,
commits an offence. Upon conviction, he/she is
liable to imprisonment for a term of not less
than two (2) years but not more than three (3)
years with a fine of not less than three million
Rwandan francs (FRW 3,000,000) and not more
than five million (FRW 5,000,000).” (Art 19)
 GENOCIDE, CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY
AND WAR CRIMES
• It should be noted that the crime of genocide,
crimes against humanity and war crimes are
not covered by the 1977 Rwandan penal code
but by the 2018 law on the crime of Genocide,
Crimes against Humanity and War Crimes and
other international conventions Rwanda is
party.
 CRIME OF GENOCIDE
• Genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent
to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or
religious group, as such:
• Killing members of the group;
• Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
• Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to
bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
• Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
• Forcefully transferring children of the group to another group.
 PENALTIES FOR CRIME OF GENOCIDE

• Any person who commits any of the acts

referred to under Article 91 of this Law
commits an offense. Upon conviction, he/she
is liable to the penalty of life imprisonment
that cannot be mitigated by any
circumstances. (Art 92 RPC)
 CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY
• Article 3 of ICTR Statute defines the Crime against
Humanity as certain crimes committed in the
context of a widespread or systematic attack and
directed towards any civilian population on national,
political ethnical, racial or religious grounds. The
crimes referred to are: Murder, extermination,
enslavement, deportation, imprisonment, torture,
rape, persecution on political, racial and religious
grounds; other inhumane acts. Article 120 of the
RPC add more acts
 PARTICIPATIONS IN CRIMES AGAINST
HUMANITY
• As in genocide, complicity in Crime against Humanity is a
punishable offense following the same regime. However,
unlike in genocide, the jurisprudence has ruled out to
punish, incitement, preparation or any other form of
indirect or inchoate participation in Crime against
Humanity if the main offence has not been carried out
through.
• It seems that the customary international does not want
to set up a regime of inchoate offenses for serious
breaches of international humanitarian law. Genocide is in
this regard an exception.
 WAR CRIMES
• A war crime is any of the following acts committed during armed
conflict and directed against persons or property protected under
the provisions of the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949 and
their additional Protocols I and II of 8 June 1977 and Protocol III of 8
December 2005:
• 1º wilful killing;

• 2º torture or inhuman treatment, including biological experiments;

• 3º wilfully causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health;

 The international armed conflicts
• Scope of Application ratione personae
• The four Geneva Conventions’ aim is to protect
victims of international armed conflicts,
meaning persons who are not taking an active
part in the conflict. This encompasses militaries
who are wounded, sick or shipwrecked,
prisoners of war, civilians, medical staff of the
armies, as well as staff of organisms which
provide assistance and protection.
 The non international armed conflicts
• The non international armed conflict, called also civil war
or internal conflict is remarkable in the sense that a
regular army of a State is confronting with rebel armed
groups. Its effective regulation has been made difficult
because of the well known principle of non interference
in the internal affairs of States asserted in Article 2
paragraph 7 of the United Nations Charter. The second
difficulty lies with the difficult distinction between a non
international armed conflict and a simple internal
disturbance which only requires law enforcement action.
• THANK YOU VERY MUCH.