By John Aglionby
Lawyers say ruling shows President Kagame is using legislation to punish opponents. Lawyers representing a Rwandan opposition leader jailed for 15 years intend to seek reparations from the government after a pan-African court ruled her rights had been violated during the trial.
Caroline Buisman, representing Victoire Ingabire, leader of the United Democratic Forces Inkingi party, said the ruling demonstrated that President Paul Kagame, who has effectively ruled Rwanda since the 1994 genocide, was using legislation to silence and punish political opponents.
“Procedural rights do not exist for those who are political opponents and those who are seen as a threat to the regime,” Ms Buisman said.
Victoire Ingabire was convicted with downplaying the impact of the genocide © AFPMr Kagame is widely praised for having transformed Rwanda from a failed state into a thriving economy and one of the least corrupt countries in sub-Saharan Africa. However he is also criticised for his authoritarian style of government.
In 2012, two years after she was blocked from challenging Mr Kagame in the 2010 presidential election, Ingabire was charged with downplaying the impact of the genocide — in which some 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed, spreading rumours to incite the population and forming an army to overthrow the government.
She was convicted and sentenced to eight years in prison, which was increased to 15 years on appeal.
The African Court for Human and People’s Rights ruled in a judgment published last week that Ingabire’s statements on the first two offences did not amount to criminal offences and that the convictions cannot be upheld. The judges ruled that on the third offence Ingabire’s right to a defence had been violated due to irregularities such as unlawful searches, intimidation of a defence witness and the a lack of opportunity for the defence counsel to interrogate an incriminating witness.
The court, based in Tanzania, did not order Ingabire’s release but gave the Rwandan government six months to “rectify the harm done”.
Rwanda’s president Paul Kagame has been criticised for his authoritarian style of government © AFP
“The African Court didn’t impose specific measures but the government cannot just ignore the ruling,” Ms Buisman said, adding that the legal team was still weighing what form of redress to seek. “People think money when reparations are mentioned but we’re thinking more creatively so this is not just about Victoire but all political prisoners.”
A spokesperson for the Rwandan justice ministry declined to comment on the ruling, saying the government had yet to receive it.
Rwanda last year withdrew from the part of the court that allows individuals and non-governmental organisations to file cases against governments, claiming it had become politicised.
There are however several Rwandan cases still pending before the court that were filed before the withdrawal came into effect.
Ms Buisman said Ingabire’s case “cannot be seen in isolation”. “It’s not just who she is but it’s the pattern that’s been repeated this year,” she said, referring to Diane Rwigara, who was barred from running against Mr Kagame in this year’s presidential election and has since been charged with inciting insurrection and forgery.
Ms Buisman said she did not understand why Mr Kagame, who won re-election this year with 98 per cent of the vote, treats his opponents this way considering his popularity
“He’d probably have won [re-election] easily enough on both occasions,” she said. “I think paranoia got to his head and he’s used to running the country by absolute power, by fear so he doesn’t know any other way,” she said.
Source: https://www.ft.com
