Rwandan YouTuber Aimable Karasira Dies in Hospital on Day of Scheduled Prison Release

Aimable Karasira Uzaramba died on Wednesday 8 May 2026 at Nyarugenge hospital in Kigali, the Rwanda Correctional Service said. The 48-year-old YouTube commentator was scheduled for release from prison that day at the end of a five-year sentence. An RCS spokesperson told The New Times and TV One that Karasira ingested his prescribed medication after completing pre-release procedures, was taken to hospital and died around midnight.

The Rwanda Correctional Service stated that Karasira died after overdosing on his prescribed medication. It said it was awaiting a post-mortem report on his death. AllAfrica reported these details from the RCS account.

"Aimable Karasira Uzaramba's death in state custody on the day he was expected to finally walk free is devastating," said Muthoki Mumo, CPJ Africa Program Coordinator. " Mumo called for an independent, credible inquiry to find out how and why Karasira died. Karasira was arrested in May 2021.

In September 2025 he was sentenced to five years in prison on charges of inciting divisions. A former university lecturer, he published commentary on his YouTube channel Ukuri Mbona, or The Truth as I See it, and frequently appeared on other YouTube channels where he criticized the government and official narratives of the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

Karasira was an ethnic Tutsi who lost relatives in the genocide, in which at least 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed.

Authorities charged him with genocide denial, genocide justification, causing unrest and inciting divisions in connection with his commentary. Courts acquitted him of all charges except inciting divisions in September 2025. The YouTuber alleged he was assaulted and denied sleep and medical treatment during detention.

Karasira had mental health problems, and his lawyers argued several times that he was not fit to stand trial. Courts ordered at least three medical examinations that gave differing views on his fitness; the most recent, in 2023, found that he was fit to stand trial. Karasira was one of five journalists, four of them YouTubers, in prison in Rwanda as of May 2026.

Rwanda was the second worst jailer of journalists in sub-Saharan Africa, tying with Ethiopia and Niger, according to CPJ's prison census on 1 December 2025. AllAfrica reported the CPJ data. In 2020, gospel musician Kizito Mihigo died in police custody.

Authorities said Kizito Mihigo strangled himself. Human Rights Watch described Kizito Mihigo's death as a "suspicious death" that remains unexplained more than six years later. CPJ's requests for comment to the Rwanda Correctional Service via phone, email and messaging app were unanswered on 7 May 2026.