In The New Times wordt het proces tegen Victoire Ingabire ook op de voet gevolgd. Hier volgt een overzicht van de berichten die er de afgelopen dagen zijn verschenen.
En hiervan wordt Ingabire beschuldigd:
- forming an armed group with the aim of destabilising the country;
- complicity to acts of terrorism;
- conspiracy against the government by use of war and terrorism;
- inciting the masses to revolt against the government;
- genocide ideology;
- provoking divisionism.
Ingabire case resumes today
By Charles Kwizera
The trial of Victoire Umuhoza Ingabire, leader of the yet-to-be registered political party, FDU-Inkingi and her four co-accused, resumes today.
The case, which will be heard in substance by the High Court, has previously been postponed on two occasions at Ingabire’s request for more time to prepare her defence.
Her arguments in both appearances was that she needed time to intensively study the 2,500 pages file and to have it translated to English for some members of her defence team.
"We are ready to begin the trial as soon as the defence is fully prepared. Our country respects the rights of the accused to a fair and speedy trial,” prosecutor Alain Mukurarinda said in June when the case was last postponed.
“We have no problem if she feels that September is more appropriate for her."
Ingabire and her co-accused are charged with of providing financial support to a terrorist group, planning to cause state insecurity and divisionism.
Prosecution says that there is evidence of Ingabire’s links to terrorist activities, including financial transfers to the DRC bases terrorist group, the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR).
Ingabire’s co-accused are; Col. Tharcisse Nditurende, Lt. Colonel Noel Hitiyaremye, Lt. Jean Marie Vianney Karuta and Major Vital Uwumuremyi, all former commanders of the FDLR.
They are all expected to appear in court today.
5-9-2011
Ingabire’s links to FDLR revealed as trial resumes
By Charles Kwizera
( L-R) Lain Edwards, Ingabire Victoire (in the rear) and Gatera Gashabana in court yesterday.The New Times /Timothy Kisambira
The National Public Prosecuting Authority (NPPA), yesterday, disclosed Victoire Ingabire’s links to the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), a terrorist group made up of forces responsible for the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, as the trial resumed.
The FDLR is also accused of war crimes and mass rape in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Ingabire, along with four co-accused, are charged with supporting a terrorist group, planning to cause state insecurity and divisionism.
Her co-accused are Colonel Tharcisse Nditurende, Lt Colonel Noeli Habiyaremye, Major Vital Uwumuremyi and Lieutenant Jean Marie Karuta
Court heard that the documents found during a search of Ingabire’s residence in Zevenhuizen, Netherlands, by the Dutch prosecuting authority, working with the National Public Prosecutions Authority (NPPA), included a written statement by Speciose Mujawayezu, an aide to Ingabire, where she confesses to sending money at the request of Victoire Ingabire to Vital Uwumuremyi.
Uwumuremyi, an FDLR Major has already pleaded guilty.
According to Prosecution, also discovered in Ingabire’s house were minutes of a meeting held in Brussels on February 24, that detail the decision she made with the FDLR leadership to establish a military organisation to topple the Government of Rwanda.
However, efforts, by Prosecution, to have the documents produced before court, as evidence, have been frustrated.
A Dutch lower court on May 31, 2011, ruled against the transfer to Rwanda, the files and documents seized in Ingabire’s home in the Netherlands, upon intervention by her family.
The decision is currently under appeal in the Dutch Supreme Court.
While Prosecution had requested court to adjourn the case until the Dutch Supreme Court pronounces itself on the appeal, the judge declined and ordered the case to proceed.
However, progress was cut short, yesterday, after the translator for one of the defence lawyers, Lain Edwards - a British lawyer - was deemed incompetent.
“I think we have to get all statements right through the translator because they have an impact on the whole case,” said prosecutor Bonaventure Ruberwa, after numerous attempts to repeat his statements so that the translator could get them right.
The statement by the prosecutor led to the translator’s immediate resignation
At this point, Ingabire and her defence team expressed the wish to have the trial proceed as an alternative translator was sought, since the trial had commenced with three of Ingabire’s co-accused.
However, Prosecution insisted that the translation should apply to all the defendants since the cases are connected. After consultations, the panel of judges, led by Alice Rulisa, decided to adjourn the trial, which has been postponed twice this year.
The case resumes on Wednesday with the High Court promising to get a professional simultaneous translator.
6-9-2011
Our judges are passing with flying colors
By Sunny Ntayombya
As everyone probably knows by now, after numerous fits and starts, the criminal case against Victoire Ingabire, who is charged with giving financial support to a terrorist group, planning to cause state insecurity and divisionism has finally begun. And it was about time. I was getting tired of reading about what a section of the media has sought to portray as “unfair imprisonment in maximum security.”
For too long she seemed like a victim that was being unfairly harassed by the State, but now that the case has finally begun, people will have the opportunity to learn why she’s been in prison for almost a year now. And on top of that she’s been allowed to mount a rigorous defense, going as far hiring British legal eagle and ICTR defense lawyer, Ian Edwards to take on the might of the National Public Prosecuting Authority (NPPA).
Various ‘experts’ in all things Rwandan had immediately deemed the charges “politically motivated” without even analyzing the merits of the case. Opening the case to the full scrutiny of the general public was a master stroke by the Judiciary because it will force people to acknowledge the facts of the case.
I’m not saying that the judges will necessarily agree with the Prosecution, that is their prerogative; however, the Prosecution will be given the opportunity to state the facts as they see them. And the defense will also be given the opportunity to challenge these facts.
I think that it’s important that this judicial process is transparent, not just to expose the falsehoods peddled by our foreign detractors, but for the general public as well. They must feel that the process is free, fair and transparent.
For too long, Rwandan courts have been called ‘proxies’ of the Executive branch of the Rwandan government by all and sundry despite the fact that the ICTR ruled that Jean Uwinkindi could be transferred to Rwandan courts to face the charges of genocide, because they had demonstrated that they could “enforce the highest standards of international justice”. These standards include ‘ judicial independence’.
This is a great opportunity to prove what any unbiased observer of the justice system in Rwanda already knows: that despite the judiciary’s teething problems, it’s in fine mettle now.
Sitting in court on Monday, admiringly watching the way the judges shot down the Prosecutions plea to postpone the trial and then conducted the day’s arguments, I almost wished I had joined the legal profession. I was proud to call these judges my ‘learned friends’. If, as critics have said, the judges are in the thrall of the Executive, would they have thrown out the prosecution’s application to postpone the trial? I think not. This wasn’t the act of a panel of judges working hand in glove with the NPPA. Rather, it was decision made in order to facilitate a speedy judicial process while protecting the rights of a Rwandan citizen-in this case, Victoire Ingabire.
Looking around the courtroom, I saw members of the diplomatic corps, local and international journalists, human rights workers, members of the FDU-Inkingi (the un-registered party that Mrs. Ingabire heads) and curious observers and, while talking to some of them, not even one could fault the proceedings so far. This landmark trial, and the manner in which it unfolds in the next couple of months, will show just how far we’ve come.
Twitter: @sannykigali
Blog: sunnyntayombya.wordpress.com
7-9-2011
Evidence links Ingabire, Rusesabagina, with terrorist groups
By Charles Kwizera
Victoire Ingabire who is alleged to have connived in plans to set up a terrorist group.The New Times/ File
KIGALI - As the trial in the case involving Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza and her co-accused takes root, new evidence by prosecution alleges that Ingabire and Paul Rusesabagina, a Rwandan living in the US, were involved in the formation of terrorist groups to destabilise the country.
The evidence, which was presented to the High Court, yesterday, indicates that the duo was allegedly in constant contact with senior FDLR officers persuading them to break away and form armed groups affiliated to their political parties.
FDLR, a militia group based in the DRC, is made up mainly of perpetrators of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.
Ingabire’s co-accused are; Lt. Colonel Tharcisse Nditurende, Lt. Colonel Noel Hitiyaremye, Capt. Jean Marie Vianney Karuta and Major Vital Uwumuremyi.
The four, who were formerly in the FDLR ranks, have already pleaded guilty and provided more information concerning the dealings with the politicians.
Reading the evidence before the court, prosecutor Bonaventure Ruberwa said that Ingabire and Rusesabagina, on several occasions, sent money to Lt. Col. Nditurende, Lt. Col. Hitiyaremye, in Congo and Burundi.
“We have statements from the accused and documents attesting to the working relationship between the officers and the two politicians aimed at terrorising the country,” Ruberwa said.
He explained that Ingabire got in contact with Nditurende, who was heading a battalion in FDLR in 2008, and asked him to break away and form an armed wing called Coalition des Forces Democratique (CDF) that was affiliated to her party, FDU-Inkingi.
According to the evidence acquired from Nditurende, he later met Ingabire in Kinshasa, DRC and in Congo Brazzaville where they held talks on how to hold subversive activities on the Rwandan territory to which she pledged support.
Meanwhile, prosecution alleged that Rusesabagina also kept in contact with Hitiyaremye, indicating that there is evidence of constant communication and money transactions between the two.
“Rusesabagina sent money to Hitiyaremye many times in Congo and in Burundi with the aim of establishing an armed wing for his PDR-Ihumure party,” Ruberwa said.
Hitiyaremye and Nditurende were later arrested in Burundi in September 2009 where they had allegedly gone to meet with the Burundian Intelligence Chief to solicit support to attack Rwanda.
Ingabire and her co-accused are charged with fueling insecurity and ethnic divisions, an accusation she denies.
The trial continues today.
8-9-2011
Prosecution presents more damning evidence against Ingabire
By Charles Kwizera
The accussed during a previous court appearance; More evidence presented by prosecution yesterday pinned Victoire Ingabire (right) to a terror group. The New Times /File.
KIGALI - On the fourth day of the trial in the case involving Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza and her co-accused, prosecution tabled evidence alleging that the four suspects had formed an armed group in the jungles of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) by the time of their arrest.
The quartet include Lt. Colonels Tharcisse Nditurende and Noel Habiyaremye, Major Vital Uwumuremyi and Capt. Jean Marie Vianney Karuta.
They are charged with forming a terrorist group, conspiracy to wage war and conduct terror activities as well as forming an armed group with the aim of destabilising the country.
They four have pleaded guilty.
Presenting the evidence before the High Court yesterday, prosecutor Bonaventure Ruberwa said that the statements obtained from the four men by both prosecution and the judicial police confirm that they had formed an armed group.
“They formed an armed group called Coalition des Forces Democratique (CDF), a wing of Ingabire’s FDU-Inkingi after breaking away from FDLR,” Ruberwa said.
Court also heard that the group was formed mainly because Ingabire and the officers were disappointed by FDLR’s inactivity.
FDLR, a militia group based in the DRC, is mainly made up of perpetrators of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.
According to the accused, Ingabire asked them to recruit young FDLR rebels, who were ready to shift their activities to Rwanda instead of idling in Congolese jungles.
Prosecution averred that Ingabire told her co-defendants that they could not overthrow the government of Rwanda, but their aim would be to cause insecurity and force government to opt for talks.
Court heard that the Ingabire told her co-accused that the reason the international community did not bother about Rwanda was that it was peaceful. So causing insecurity would coerce government into opting for a truce with them.
Additional evidence presented in court showed that Ingabire, through various people in Belgium, Tanzania, Uganda and DRC, sent her co-accused money to procure arms through Western Union.
Capt. Uwumuremyi who acted as the focal point between Ingabire and the commander of the force, Lt Col. Nditurende, was charged with receiving the money.
Uwumuremyi testified to have used the money to buy military equipment to prepare for subversive activities on Rwandan territory.
Prosecution also read several e-mails exchanges between Ingabire and the two asking them to do their part as she also does her part of politics and diplomacy.
Ingabire had also instructed that they recruit people from inside the country who would return and train others.
Prosecution is expected to begin reading Ingabire’s charges today.
9-9-2011
Court hears details of Ingabire’s charges
By Charles Kwizera
KIGALI - Prosecution, yesterday, read the charges against Victoire Ingabire a week into the trial in which she four others are accused of forming a terrorist group, conspiracy to wage war and conduct terror activities as well as forming an armed group with the aim of destabilising the country, among other charges.
Since the hearing started on September 5, prosecution represented by Alphonse Hitiyaremye and Bonaventure Ruberwa, began by reading the charges against Lt. Colonels Tharcisse Nditurende and Noel Habiyaremye, Major Vital Uwumuremyi and Capt. Jean Marie Vianney Karuta.
Presenting evidence before the panel of High Court judges led by Alice Rulisa, prosecution said that Ingabire is, specifically, accused of;
Forming an armed group with the aim of destabilising the country, complicity to acts of terrorism, conspiracy against the government by use of war and terrorism, inciting the masses to revolt against the government, genocide ideology and provoking divisionism.
Hitiyaremye told court that prosecution has evidence alleging that Ingabire on, several occasions, denied that there was a genocide against the Tutsi. She allegedly claimed that there was a double genocide..
He said that Ingabire, through various media outlets, claimed that the genocide against the Tutsi ended, but that one against the Hutu was still on going.
Prosecution also alleges that Ingabire said that there is ethnic supremacy of Tutsi over Hutu with the aim of inciting masses to revolt against the government.
The case continues next week on Monday when more evidence will be tabled before the court.
10-9-2011
Ingabire urged recruitment of youth to form terrorist group- Prosecution
By Charles Kwizera
At the beginning of the second week of the trial involving Victoire Ingabire and her co-accused in the High Court, prosecution yesterday told court that she instructed Maj Vital Uwumuremyi to recruit young people in the country to form a terrorist group.
Uwumuremyi, who is a former member of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) militia, is one of Ingabire’s four co-accused.
According to prosecutor, Bonaventure Ruberwa, after the FDLR militias informed Ingabire that they had broken away, she asked them to find ways of recruiting young people from within the country for subversive activities.
Prosecution claims that initially, Ingabire believed that instigation of insecurity in the country would compel the government to hold talks with the opposition.
In a statement by Major Uwumuremyi, Ingabire allegedly ordered them to recruit 200 youth from every province.
Uwumuremyi was allegedly the architect, alongside Ingabire, towards the formation of Coalition des Forces Democratique (CFD), an affiliate of FDU-Inkingi, Ingabire’s political party.
Ruberwa said that Ingabire told the commanders to recruit the youth for training and send them back into the country as they could not keep them in the DRC jungles for long.
The piece of evidence was brought up on the charge of forming an armed group with the aim of destabilising the country which is one of the six charges against Ingabire.
Other counts are; complicity to acts of terrorism, conspiracy against the government by use of war and terrorism, inciting the masses to revolt against the government, Genocide ideology and provoking divisionism.
Prosecution also said that Major Uwumuremyi testified to have received about US$ 3,000 from Ingabire, which he used to buy some arms and ammunitions after a breakaway from a battalion led by Lt. Col. Nditurende.
“Major Uwumuremyi, before the judicial police and prosecution, testified having received the money, in Goma, DRC via Western Union from Ingabire. He used it to buy some arms,” Ruberwa said.
At the opening of the case, Ingabire denied all the charges, saying that she was on trial for her political ideas and not crimes. All her co-accused have pleaded guilty and begged for clemency.
13-9-2011
Ingabire linked to grenade attacks in Kigali
By Charles Kwizera
The sequence of grenade attacks that rocked Kigali last year have been linked to the terror group, Coalition des Forces Democratique (CFD).
The revelations were made yesterday during the ongoing trial of Victoire Ingabire, the head of the yet-to-be-registered political group, FDU-Inkingi.
Prosecution alleges that CFD was the armed wing of FDU-Inkingi
Ingabire faces six counts; forming an armed group with the aim of destabilising the country, complicity to acts of terrorism, conspiracy against the government by use of war and terrorism, inciting the masses to revolt against the government, genocide ideology and divisionism.
Presenting evidence, yesterday, prosecuting attorney, Bonaventure Ruberwa, read out an e-mail which was sent to Major Vital Uwumuremyi by the operations commander of the group under a pseudo-name of Jackie Chan, informing him that they had been able to sneak 20 grenades into the country.
The e-mail also explained that the group had successfully carried out the attacks at Nyabugogo, Kimironko and other places in Kigali.
In the said email, Jackie Chan also requested Uwumuremyi to inform Ingabire that they needed more assistance to carry on with their ‘work’.
This evidence follows a series of other e-mails also presented as evidence, statements made by the accused and Western Union money transfer forms, which allegedly pin Ingabire to the group.
In March this year, 29 men suspected of recruiting and belonging to a terrorist group, planning and executing activities aimed at causing state insecurity and mass murder, were arrested and are currently on remand.
Prosecution revealed that the network of the people behind the grenade attacks was based in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
This was also CFD’s base before the arrest of its top leaders.
Though Ingabire’s four co-accused have pleaded guilty and testified to having worked with her in the creating of the group, she continues to deny its existence.
Victoire Ingabire’s defence team is led by British barrister, John Edwards.
Edwards is also co-counsel for Jean Uwinkindi, a detainee at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in Arusha, Tanzania.
The trial continues today.
14-9-2011
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