 The verdict in the trial of Rwandan opposition leader Victoire Ingabire has again been postponed, this time until October. The trial has raised concerns about the independence of the country's courts. The head of the unregistered Unified Democratic Forces (FDU)-Inkingi party, Victoire Ingabire, has been charged with backing the Hutu rebel group Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) and inciting ethnic divisions. She has also been charged with denying the 1994 Rwandan genocide, during which nearly a million people, most of them Tutsi and moderate Hutus, were killed in the 100-day killing spree. Ingabire lived in exile in the Netherlands for 16 years. Her dream of getting her political party registered and pursuing a political career in her homeland vanished when she was detained and placed under house arrest on her return home in January 2010. Ingabire has been attending court sessions since September 2011. Rwandan prosecutors are seeking a life sentence, but Ingabire and her British lawyer, Iain Edwards, are fighting for an acquittal. The verdict, which was originally due in June, has now been rescheduled for October 19, 2012. Controversial genocide law  The Genocide Memorial Center in Kigali Two FDLR officers were accused along with Ingabire. The two have pleaded guilty to working together with her. However, Iain Edwards says that admission was made under "bizarre circumstances". The genocide denial charges which Ingabire refutes are based on a statement she made on the day she returned to Rwanda from exile. At Kigali Genocide Memorial Center, she criticized the country for not having an effective policy towards national reconciliation. "At this memorial center, it is only the Tutsi genocide which is commemorated. There is also a need to remember that the Hutu people were also massacred. In order for true reconciliation to be achieved, every side's plight must be taken into account," said Ingabire, who is herself a member of the Hutu tribe. There has been criticism that the case against Ingabire is politically motivated, and that the charges are directly connected to a political conflict between the Rwandan government and two opposition groups, FDLR and FDU-Inkingi. Dr. Alexander Stroh, an expert on Rwanda with the German Institute for Global and Area Studies, GIGA, takes a cautious approach. "There are laws in Rwanda, whether one likes them or not, which say that statements linked to genocide ideology and propagation of divisionism are liable to sentencing," he told DW. "You can criticize those laws but they exist and prohibit persons from saying certain things in Rwanda," Stroh said, adding that, for him " if Ingabire is to be convicted, the more important question will be whether the motive is political or not.".  Ingabire had hoped to run against President Paul Kagame Opposition versus the regime Victoire Ingabire is regarded as an outspoken critic of Rwandan President Paul Kagame. That's why her lawyer has no doubt that the case against her is politically motivated. According to him, she has been "a fresh wind blowing in the country" who managed to make the regime uncomfortable. In April this year, Ingabire announced that she would boycott her trial after the court cut short a witness who accused Rwandan authorities of rigging evidence against her. Ingabire is not the first Rwandan opposition figure to stand trial. In February, the Supreme Court sentenced Mushayidi Deogratias, the leader of another unregistered party, the Pact for People's Defense (PDP), to life in prison. He was found guilty of planning to overthrow the government. Bernard Ntaganda, of the PS-Imberakuri party, is currently serving a four-year sentence for endangering national security and inciting ethnic divisions in the country.  Victoire Ingabire with her lawyer Iain Edwards Rwandan judicial system in question These verdicts have raised concerns about whether the courts are serving the government's political agenda. Court spokesperson Charles Kaliwabo dismisses such allegations and insists that the Rwandan judicial system is totally independent. "I don't think we have sufficient time to convince those who can't be convinced, but at least we ask them to judge us by what we do," he said.
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| Verdict for Rwandan opponent postponed to October 19 KIGALI — A Rwandan court on Friday postponed the verdict for opposition figure Victoire Ingabire, accused of bankrolling terrorism and denying the 1994 genocide, until October 19. The court said it would wait for the decision of a higher court on a separate suit filed by Ingabire before handing down its verdict. "The court realised that Ingabire filed a suit in the Supreme Court challenging the genocide ideology law," judge Alice Rulisa told the court, adding that a lawyer for Ingabire had also requested the court wait for the Supreme Court ruling before handing down its own decision. In late June the same court had already postponed the verdict once. Ingabire, leader of the Unified Democratic Forces (FDU), a political grouping that has not been allowed to register as a party, is charged with "giving financial support to a terrorist group, planning to cause state insecurity and divisionism". Ingabire, a Hutu, denies the charges. Prosecutors in April called for her to be given a life sentence. Ingabire, an outspoken critic of President Paul Kagame, has been in custody since her arrest in October 2010, and has boycotted proceedings since April after the court cut short a witness who accused Rwandan authorities of rigging evidence against her. Rwandan prosecutors claim to have evidence of Ingabire's "terrorist" activities, including proof of financial transfers to the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Rwanda, a Hutu rebel movement based in neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo. The FDU accuses Rwandan authorities of fabricating evidence against its leader, with the sole aim of preventing her from participating in the political affairs of the small central African country. Ingabire was absent as she has been boycotting the court proceedings in recent months, but her four co-accused were in court. Copyright © 2012 AFP. |
Opposition leader kidnapped and expelled from his native Rwanda manu militari Alexis Bakunzibake – 1st Vice President – PS-Imberakuri Ijwi Rya Rubanda, an online radio station operating from London announced today having managed to talk to Alexis Bakunzibake, 1st Vice President of the Rwandan opposition party PS-Imberakuri, from Uganda border with Rwanda, where Kagame's security forces had dumped him alive. Times are changing for the Rwandan Patriotic Front. If we remember, a little more than 2 years ago, on July 13, 2010 André Kagwa Rwisereka, vice-president of the Democratic Green Party, was reported missing. His car was then found near the southern town of Butare. The following day, his mutilated body is found on the outskirts of Butare. He had been also kidnapped but as well unfortunately decapitated. Of course, at the time and even until today, Kagame's government has denied any involvement in the assassination of this politician from the opposition. Alexis Bakunzibake, whom we reported this week the kidnapping from his neighbourhood in Kigali, was apparently seriously beaten up and bear a number of scars and bruises on different parts of his body [arms and legs particularly]. That is what he communicated to Ijwi Rya Rubanda. He indicated that on Wednesday, he had been forcibly removed from a taxi, the public around watching without any questioning thinking probably that he was another individual that Rwandan authorities were after for their own reasons. They put him in a car, blindfolded him, and drove to an unknown location. He was after taken into a room, handcuffed and leg-cuffed. During the interrogation, he was asked why he was not working with the other faction of his party PS-Imberakuri that is affiliated to the Rwandan Patriotic Front. The source of funds they use was also part of many questions they wanted him to answer. The following day his kidnappers drove for hours on bumpy roads, and around 2 pm, they dumped him in an inhabited area in Uganda and close to Kabare. He had to walk 12 hours night and day to reach the first residential settlements in the region. Though he had been dispossessed of all his accessories [shoes and particularly means of communication], he had managed to hide from his kidnappers a sim card, with which he was able to talk to the outside world and tell his dramatic encounter. On the same day we write this story, we learnt that another politician from the  Victoire Ingabire – Leader of FDU-Inkingi – Iconic figure advocating democracy and reconciliation in Rwandan recent and unfolding history opposition, Victoire Ingabire, leader of FDU-Inkingi, who is imprisoned in Kigali since 14 October 2012, and whose sentencing was meant to be read today, has seen her hearing postponed to 19 October 2012. The court explained that the postponement was due to the fact it needed to consider the High Court reply to the review of the law on genocide, divisionism and revisionism, since the accused has challenged the Rwandan judiciary on its unconstitutional character. As one can rightly assess, the Rwandan opposition has still significant challenges in its way before any different society where all citizens are treated equally and fairly by their political leaders, would emerge. The important on that journey is not to give up. While hope can sustain lives of many that Kagame oppresses, signs are there to show a shift in the balance of powers. A last word on the interpretation of expelling Alexis Bakunzibake out of Rwanda is worth considering. By taking such drastic measure towards a Rwandan citizen, does that mean the victim could not be punishable by any law of the land if he had committed some offense or crime? Or does it send a strong message to all politicians from the opposition telling them that if they want to oppose Kagame, they better be outside the country? No wonder why at some time Victoire Ingabire was too once asked if she wanted to leave Rwanda, they could help her. But they forget that they are only postponing the inevitable. |
