Rwanda’s military prosecutors are demanding a lengthy 35-year prison sentence for exiled Rwandan former army chief of staff Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa, a military prosecutor is quoted saying.

The New Times daily reported on Tuesday that Lt. Gen. Nyamwasa and three others also living in exile were prosecuted in absentia and jointly face six charges including threatening state security, undermining public order, promoting ethnic divisions and insulting the person of the President of the Republic.

The prosecution called for a 30-year sentence for the four and an extra five for Nyamwasa and a colleague for deserting the army. According to media reports, the prosecutor also wants the duo dismissed with disgrace from the army.

The other three include former Director of Military Intelligence Patrick Karegeya, former director of Cabinet Theogene Rudasingwa a former envoy to the United States, Patrick Karegeya, and a former prosecutor-general, Gerald Gahima.

Last year, the authorities linked Nyamwasa with a spate of mysterious grenade attacks that rocked Kigali.

Political party

The former general, who had already fled to South Africa in February, was reported to have formed a political party called the Rwanda National Congress (RNC). The unregistered political party includes Rudasingwa and a few other exiled former high-level political and military allies of President Paul Kagame.

The group says it wants to eradicate alleged human rights violations in Rwanda and create a political environment that will nurture democratic governance.

A UN Security Council Group of Experts' report last year accused Nyamwasa and Karegeya of working closely with the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) militia, a rebel group made up of remnants of Hutu interahamwe blamed for the 1994 genocide.

According to Rwanda’s pro-state media, military prosecutors led by Capt. Fidel Mubirigi requested the Military High Court that convened on Monday to sentence Nyamwasa and Rudasingwa in absentia to a total 35-years each in prison.

The four are also accused of authoring a damning 60-page document calling for the overthrow of President Kagame.

The military high court, presided over by Brig Gen Peter Bagabo hearing the case ruled that it would decide the verdict on the 14th of January 2011.

Last year Nyamwasa was the target of an apparent assassination attempt in his exile base in South Africa which he blamed on the Rwandan government.