Rwandan singer Aimable Karasira has died as he was being released from prison in Kigali, according to the Rwanda Correctional Service (RCS).
The 48-year-old was well-known for his YouTube videos, in which he criticised the government and the ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) party was arrested in 2021 and sentence to five years in jail for inciting division.
The RCS said he had died at Nyarugenge Hospital after he had allegedly overdosed on his prescription medication.
In an interview with Rwandan broadcaster TV One, the RCS spokesperson Hillary Sengabo said ‘’Karasira was being escorted out of the prison at around 14:00 or 15:00 on Wednesday when he took another dose of his medication, the prison officials proceeded to take the medication away from him, but it was too late’’.
ITANGAZO RYO KUBIKA. pic.twitter.com/Kz9eliRISq
— Rwanda Correctional Service (@RCS_Rwanda) May 7, 2026
Karasira was suffering from diabetes, high blood pressure and poor mental health, and that a post-mortem would be carried out, added the RCS spokesperson
However, some government critics view his death as suspicious and have called for an independent investigation.
The high court last year acquitted him of the other charges put to him - inciting public disorder, justifying genocide and genocide denial.
Rwandan human rights activist based in Belgium also criticised government view on the singer’s death.
"After years of persecution and imprisonment, the authorities announce your death just as you were supposed to regain your freedom,"
Her post on X called for an independent and transparent investigation, given what she called "Rwanda's long history of repression, lack of transparency, suspicious deaths in detention, and the mistreatment of critics and dissidents".
In 2020, gospel singer Kizito Mihigo was found dead in his prison cell. He, like Karasira, was a survivor of the 1994 Rwandan genocide, and critic of the ruling RPF party. Rwanda says he too killed himself.
Zaneza remembered Karasira for his courage to "speak about memory, injustice, and the right to mourn all victims without fear".
"You spoke openly about the killing of members of your family by RPF soldiers in 1994; a story that many in Rwanda feel is not allowed to be told because it challenges the official narrative promoted by [President] @PaulKagame's government," she wrote.
In 1994, ethnic Hutu extremists targeted members of the minority Tutsi community and their opponents, killing around 800,000 people in 100 days.
Karasira - an ethnic Tutsi - lost his parents during the killings, but he blamed RPF fighters, saying the rebels suspected them of passing on information about their activities.
The RPF was founded as a rebel group by Tutsi exiles including Paul Kagame, now president, to fight the Hutu regime behind the genocide, which it forced from power.