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Tom Byabagamba, the retired Rwandan colonel who once headed the elite unit responsible for protecting the country's president, has died in prison, where he had been held for roughly twelve years following his arrest. He was 59.
The colonel occupied a privileged place in Rwanda's security apparatus for much of his career. As commander of the presidential guard, he stood at the center of the machinery shielding President Paul Kagame, and earlier in his service he worked as Kagame's personal bodyguard.
That proximity to power did not shield him when the tide turned. In 2014, Col Byabagamba was taken into custody alongside Frank Rusagara, a retired brigadier-general who was also his brother-in-law, a joint detention that would define the final chapter of both men's lives.
Authorities charged the pair with circulating rumours and damaging the reputation of the nation and its government. From the outset of his prosecution, Byabagamba insisted the accusations were baseless, telling the court they had been invented against him.
Rights organizations followed the case closely from the beginning, voicing alarm and portraying the prosecutions of both officers as elements of a broader pattern of suppression orchestrated by the government.
A military tribunal convicted the colonel in 2016 and imposed a 21-year sentence. On appeal, that punishment was subsequently lowered to 15 years, though it remained long enough to keep him incarcerated into his late fifties.
His co-defendant fared no better. Rusagara, whose government career included serving as secretary-general of the defence ministry, was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
He would never leave custody alive. The retired general died behind bars in March 2025, and Human Rights Watch responded at the time by calling it the "lonely death of a general," observing that his relatives had not heard his voice since 2014, in the days immediately preceding his arrest. According to the rights group, officials informed the family only that he had been battling cancer.
With Byabagamba's death, the family has now endured a second loss clouded by unanswered questions. His brother, David Himbara, told the BBC's Great Lakes service that relatives still do not know what caused the colonel's death, explaining that no visitor had been permitted to see him at any point during his long imprisonment.
The convictions that put both men behind bars have been contested by advocacy groups for years. HRW described the trial that produced them as a "flawed trial," one marred by serious allegations of torture and the manipulation of witnesses. Freedom Now, a separate campaign organization, had previously denounced the men's detention as "arbitrary" and asserted that it breached international law.
Concerns about how Rwanda treats its critics extend far beyond this single case. Human rights groups have consistently alleged that Kagame's administration curbs political opposition and works to silence dissenting voices, whether they reside within the country or overseas.
Col Byabagamba is survived by his wife and the couple's two sons.
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