RWANDA: INGABIRE VERDICT POSTPONED TO 07 SEPTEMBER 2012

Kigali High Court has adjourned the verdict of political prisoner Victoire Ingabire, Chair of FDU-INKINGI, to 07 September 2012. The judges ruled they needed more time to deliberate. No reference was made to a pending constitutional review of some contentious genocide laws opening in the Supreme Court from 19 July 2012.

Political prisoner Victoire Ingabire was arrested in October 2010 after she announced her decision to compete for the Presidential office. Since her return to Rwanda, President Paul Kagame has instructed his judiciary to prosecute the challenger. The government of Rwanda alleged there was overwhelming evidence against the opposition leader for charges related to links to FDLR rebellion.

A fresh United Nations report by a group of experts has revealed that it’s the government of Rwanda that is arming, training and backing rebel groups in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. “The U.N. panel also charged that Rwanda Defense Minister, the Army Chief of general staff, key army generals an other Rwandan officers mounted a “wide-ranging” effort to convince Congolese businessmen, politicians, and former rebels that had joined the ranks of the Congolese army to join the so-called M23 mutiny with the aim prosecuting “a new war to obtain a secession of both Kivus”. The same time, Rwanda is vying a seat in the UN security Council.

The international community is still turning a blind eye while innocent citizens in Rwanda and Eastern DRC are crying for relief.

We call upon the Rwandan government to immediately and unconditionally release all political prisoners.

 

FDU-Inkingi

Boniface Twagirimana

Interim Vice President