Rwandan police freed the editor of a leading independent newspaper and two other journalists today a day after arresting them on charges of publishing false information and inciting ethnic divisions.
Rwanda is still recovering from the massacres of 1994 when extremists of the Hutu majority butchered 800,000 minority Tutsis and moderate Hutus. The extremists used radio and newspapers to incite hatred of Tutsis among ordinary Hutus.
"They have been released but the investigation is still going on. What happens next depends on the outcome of the investigation," police spokesman Mr Damas Gatare said.
The editor of the Kinyarwanda-language weekly Umuseso, Mr Robert Sebufirira, deputy editor Mr McDowell Kalisa and reporter Mr Charles Kabonero were arrested yesterday and charged with "the publication of false information causing sectarianism and insecurity", Mr Gatare said.
"The stories were defamatory and contrary to the press laws," he added, without commenting on the subject matter.
Earlier he said: "It was not one article as such but composed of different stories and past stories."
Mr Sebufirira told Reuters after his release: "We spent last night in separate police stations. We don't know what will happen next. But we are free for now."