The following year, Palatin Nsanzurwimo and his wife, Fatuma, were arrested by the State security agents. After an interrogation of eight hours and an extensive search of their house, they were taken to prison along with their three children. On the way to prison, Palatin’s younger brother, following close behind, took charge of their five-year-old son and four-year-old daughter. Palatin and Fatuma were imprisoned together with their 14-month-old baby. Fatuma was later transferred to another prison and was not released for nine months.

At that time, Jean Tshiteya’s four children were expelled from school. A little later, on returning home, he found that his house had been ransacked and his wife arrested, leaving the children alone in the house. Shortly thereafter, Brother Tshiteya himself was arrested and put in prison in Butare, joining his wife and other brothers. Thereafter, all the prisoners in Butare were transferred to the central prison in Kigali. In the meantime, Brother Tshiteya’s children were cared for by brothers in Kigali.

Brother Tshiteya recalls: “As the brothers and sisters were brought in from prisons in other regions to the central prison in Kigali, they would greet one another with joy, saying ‘Komera!’ which means ‘Take courage!’ When one of the prison guards heard this greeting, he retorted: ‘You people are mad! How can people take courage in prison?’”

At the border, officials found the magazines, arrested and handcuffed the brothers, and led them off to interrogation and a cold night in a jail cell. Soon the brothers found themselves in the central prison in Kigali. There they met about 140 imprisoned brothers and sisters, who were delighted to hear a firsthand report of the convention in Nairobi. Certainly, what they had to tell was encouraging, and it helped to fortify the brothers!

The imprisoned brothers held meetings and arranged for organized preaching activity. Apart from preaching, they also taught some prisoners to read and write. Further, they conducted Bible studies with interested people and helped prepare many new publishers for baptism. Some of them had been studying when they were arrested, and others had learned the truth in prison.

A CIRCUIT OVERSEER “VISITS” PRISON

One of the brothers describes events in the Kigali prison in 1986: “Many brothers were there. We held a meeting to see how we could help the brothers on the outside. We decided to write them a letter to encourage them. We told them that when we finished our preaching territory in prison, we would come back home. We preached from bed to bed and conducted Bible studies. Later, when we heard that a circuit overseer was visiting the congregations outside, we too wanted a visit, so we made it a matter of prayer to Jehovah. Soon after that, Brother Rwakabubu, who was the circuit overseer, was imprisoned for the second time. As far as we were concerned, it was so that he could visit us.”

During the persecution, only one brother compromised. When he put on the political badge, the non-Witness prisoners beat, kicked, and insulted him, calling him a coward. His wife, who was studying the Bible, asked him why he had not remained faithful. He later wrote a letter to the judges, telling them that he had made a mistake and was still one of Jehovah’s Witnesses. He even wrote to the branch office in Kenya to apologize. He is now serving Jehovah faithfully once again.