Rwandan state prosecutors are set to appeal against the recent acquittal of the former CEO of Miss Rwanda beauty pageant, Dieudonne Ishimwe, who is accused of ‘sextortion’, a judicial source told APA on Friday.The defendant also known as Prince Kid has been facing rape charges.

The prosecution believe that the evidence presented against him was never given full consideration by the judges.

During the recent hearing last month, the presiding judge at Nyarugenge intermediate court in Kigali pointed out that the prosecutors could not provide enough proof that the accused committed the alleged crimes, paving the way for his immediate release on provisional grounds.

However the prosecutors said their role is to make sure the law took its full course and to close all jurisprudential gaps, citing that they are not satisfied by the ruling.

Ishimwe is the head of Rwanda Inspiration Backup, the company behind the annual Miss Rwanda pageant. 

He has been the boss of Rwanda Inspiration Back Up since 2009.

He is facing three charges including rape, soliciting or offering sexual favours, and harassment.

Initial accusation details indicate that the suspect, cornered on several occasions contestants in Miss Rwanda pageants, promising then that he had the ability to help them sail through the competition and win the crown.

Following the incident, Rwanda’s ministry of Youth and Culture suspended the beauty pageant pending ongoing investigation into alleged sexual malpractices by the organisers.

Reacting to the incident, President Paul Kagame said that even though the issue [of sextortion] was reported in the pageant, sexual abuse is also of growing concern in other institutions including in the central government and the army.

Speaking during a recent congress of his Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) party, Kagame expressed disquiet that the trend has not spared schools where teachers exchange grades for sex with students.