Kigali, 5 August 2025 — Two officers from the Rwanda Defence Force (RDF) and twenty civilians are being prosecuted by the Military Prosecution Authority for alleged involvement in the misuse of public funds linked to the military-owned football club, APR FC.
According to an official statement issued by the RDF, the suspects are being investigated for complicity in the issuance and use of unauthorised documents, as well as the misappropriation of government resources for unlawful purposes. The allegations are connected to the purchase of flight tickets using funds from the Ministry of Defence, in breach of legal and administrative procedures.
The funds in question were reportedly used to cover the travel expenses of APR FC (Armée Patriotique Rwandaise Football Club) during a trip to Cairo, Egypt, in September 2024. The team was there to play a return leg against Pyramids FC in the second preliminary round of the 2024–2025 CAF Champions League.
It is important to note that APR FC is owned and managed by the RDF. The club was originally established as the football arm of the Rwandan Patriotic Army, the former name of the RDF during its time as a rebel movement. To this day, the club is entirely funded by the Ministry of Defence and remains under military supervision.
Among those arrested are two sports journalists who travelled with the team to Egypt: Rugaju Reagan, a reporter at the Rwanda Broadcasting Agency (RBA), and Ishimwe Ricard, who works for SK FM radio. The spokesperson for the club’s supporters, popularly known as Jangwani, was also detained at a different time.
The RDF statement stresses that, under Rwandan law, when civilians are implicated in a criminal offence in collaboration with military personnel, they are tried before military courts. All suspects are currently being held in pre-trial detention pending further legal proceedings.
