PRESS RELEASE
Indeed, this Monday the 18th December 2017, eight senior officials
FDU-INKINGI, held since September 9, by the regime of General Paul
Kagame, appeared before the High Court of Nyarugenge. The prosecutor
asked for an extension of the pre-trial detention period for the 2nd
time, because to date, 3 months after their arrests, the prosecution
still has a problem of getting hard evidence to indict them. This
request comes as the additional period of pre-trial detention had
expired since December 3, 2017. In a state where there is a rule of law
they would have been released immediately.
The Vice-President, Boniface Twagirimana, has been held in solitary
confinement since 11 December, under the pretext that he had a telephone
in his cell, which was not found after a search carried out prison
services. At the same time, the prison authorities have been inciting
hatred against the FDU-Inkingi detainees by calling them enemies of the
country.
We would like to recall that in this case, the prosecutor is accusing
them of sensitizing people to join an armed group that aims to overthrow
the totalitarian and repressive RPF, to threaten state security and to
encourage rebellion.
In addition to the 8 senior officials arrested in September, the
President, Mrs. Victoire Ingabire and the Secretary General, Sylvain
Sibomana who languish in prison respectively since 2010 and 2013.
Mr. Sibomana and another member of FDU-Inkingi, Mr. Anselme Mutuyimana
are regularly harassed, physically and psychologically tortured.
Recently Miss Jeanine Tuyisenge member of the family of Mr. Sibomana was
the victim of an enforced disappearance and was detained incommunicado
by the Rwandan police for nearly two months.
Finally, we deplore the disappearance of Ms. Immaculate Iragena since
March 2016 and demand that justice be done for Mr. Jean Damascene
Habarugira, brutally murdered in May 2017. These two members of the UDF
have left orphans and widows, in addition to their political family, who
want justice to be returned to them.
Moreover, Ms. Victoire Ingabire has just won her case at the African
Court of Human and People’s Rights, which acknowledges that the false
interpretation of her statements that led to her arrest and a flawed
trial was a violation of her right of expression and that her rights to
defence were also violated.
Finally, we deplore the disappearance of Ms. Immaculate Iragena since
March 2016 and demand justice for Mr. Jean Damascene Habarugira,
brutally murdered in May 2017. These two members of the UDF have left
orphans and widows, in addition to their political family, who want
justice to be returned to them.
Thus FDU-Inkingi urges the Rwandan regime to end the criminal harassment
of its members who are in detention.
FDU-Inkingi are drawing the attention of the international community to
the danger Rwanda faces in terms of violence and political instability,
because critics who preach peace are persecuted by the dictatorial
regime of General Paul Kagame. To prevent this situation leading to
other tragedies that the country and the whole region have already
experienced, we call for the involvement and support of the
international community in efforts to end impunity that the repressive
regime has enjoyed since taking office 23 years ago.
Done in London, on December 19, 2017
Justin Bahunga,
Commissioner for External Relations and spokesperson.
FDU-Inkingi
Contacts: [email protected]; [email protected]; Phone:
+44-7988-883-576
