Popular Rwandan singer found dead in police cell
Once popular Rwandan Gospel singer, who shocked the country when he was arrested in 2014 and charged with plotting to kill the president and top government leaders, has died at the age of 38.
Kizito Mihigo is suspected to have committed suicide while in detention, the police said on Monday, three days after he was rearrested attempting to flee the country.
The musician was being held in solitary confinement at the Rwanda Investigative Bureau (RIB) Station in Remera in the capital Kigali, where he was found hanging in a cell.
“He was found hanging by an officer in the morning on Monday. He used the bed sheets that he was sleeping on to hang himself. Preliminary investigations show that he hanged himself on the window of his cell, but more investigations are being conducted,” Ms Marie Michelle Umuhoza, RIB spokesperson told The East African.
Police confirmed his arrest on Friday last week, a day after media reports said he had been intercepted on his way to Burundi through a porous border.
Police said that Mihigo was being investigated for bribery and for attempting to join rebel groups.