
(3 Minutes Read)
Ingabire admitted to knowing some of the defendants but denied any connection with the alleged plot. In a statement, the Rwandan Investigations Bureau said she is currently being held in Kigali. Her team of international lawyers, in a statement, called her arrest “baseless and politically motivated.”
Rwandan opposition leader Victoire Ingabire has been arrested and charged with inciting public disorder and creating a criminal organisation.
Ingabire appeared before a court in the country’s capital, Kigali on Thursday for questioning in a case involving nine people accused of training to overthrow President Paul Kagame. Among the suspects is a journalist named Theoneste Nsengimana. The rest are members of the DALFA-Umurinzi group, a party led by Ingabire that is not recognised by the authorities. Prosecutors say Ingabire provided funding and other support to the accused.
Ingabire admitted to knowing some of the defendants but denied any connection with the alleged plot. In a statement, the Rwandan Investigations Bureau said she is currently being held in Kigali. Her team of international lawyers, in a statement, called her arrest “baseless and politically motivated.” Ingabire spent 16 years in exile in the Netherlands and returned to Rwanda in 2010 to launch an opposition political movement but was imprisoned before she could contest the presidential election. She was later found guilty of conspiracy to undermine the government and denying Rwanda’s 1994 genocide, charges she denied.
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Sentenced to 15 years, she was freed in 2018 after obtaining a presidential pardon. But Kagame has since threatened Ingabire with a possible return to jail. In 2020, the president said that Ingabire should not be shocked if she is locked up again.