PRESS RELEASE
This morning of the 26th March 2016, Miss Gahongayire Leonille, assistant treasurer of FDU-Inkingi was picked by plain clothed men who lay in wait inside the infamous Kigali central prison “1930”compound. They bundled her in an awaiting car, registration nºRAA442M and whisked away to unknown destination.
The car could not have entered and the compound without the clearance of the prison authorities and hence make prison authorities complicit in the kidnap.
Miss Leonile had gone to Kigali Central prison to take food to the political prisoner Mrs Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza. Mrs Victoire receives food from outside the prison on advice by medical doctors, and approved by prison authorities. Mrs Leonile was taken away with the food that she had brought to political prisoner Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza. She is now without food and water.
The kidnapping is part of a psychological warfare being waged by the government against Mrs Ingabire in order to wear down her resolve to oppose the current repressive system as well as to scare off anyone who supports her . The government is quite enraged against Mrs Victoire Ingabire after her appeal at the African Human and Peoples’ Rights whose outcome has tarnished the international image of Rwanda, as a country that respects the rule of law, and the government looks set to do anything that can get her out of its way.
It is quite clear that the latest measure is intended to scare off anyone who would dare take food to Mrs Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza and hence force her, for very suspicious reasons, to take food prepared by cooks appointed by government officials.
FDU-Inkingi would like to appeal to ll peace loving people, governments and human rights organisations to put pressure on the Rwandan government to disclose where Miss Leonile is held and to release her without any further delay.
FDU-Inkingi would like to condemn in the strongest terms this repeated kidnapping of its supporters and to release Miss Leonile Gasengayire
Done in London, 26th March 2016
Justin Bahunga
Commission for External Relations and Spokesperson FDU-Inkingi
