National Public Prosecution Authority
Office of the Prosecutor General
Victoire Ingabire Denied Bail
Evidence shows that Victoire Ingabire is a terrorist leader and financier masquerading as a politician
Speaking after the Gasabo Intermediate Court refused Victoire Ingabire bail on charges that include collaborating with a terrorist organization, Rwanda’s Prosecutor General, Martin Ngoga, told journalists in Kigali;
“In public, Victoire Ingabire masquerades as a politician. But behind the scenes she operates as a terrorist leader and financier. Her co-conspirators in these endeavors include some of the same individuals who have been in the news lately for the mass rape of women and children in the Eastern DRC”.
Mr Ngoga said the prosecution has a great deal of evidence against Ms Ingabire – some of it gathered with help from Rwanda’s neighbours, Burundi and DRC. That evidence includes records of money transfers through Western Union to FDLR Union (an extremist armed group based in the DRC made up of remnants of the former Rwanda Army and the militias responsible for the 1994 Rwanda genocide).
Evidence also includes testimony by senior commanders of FDLR with whom she was working to form a more violent splinter group in order to wage guerilla war against Rwanda. Amongst these witnesses are former FDLR Colonel Tharcisse Nditurende, who on 29 April 2010 pleaded guilty to working with Ms Ingabire to form a guerrilla group designed to launch offensives against Rwanda; former FDLR Lieutenant Jean Marie Karuta who, on 6 May 2010 another pleaded guilty to working with Victoire Ingabire and Lt Colonel Nditurende and Lt Colonel Noeli Habyaremye to plan military offensives to cause state insecurity within Rwanda.
Also, in the past few days Major Vital Uwumuremyi, yet another former ex-FAR and FDLR commander who had continued to work as her assistant until his arrest, appeared before a court and admitted to helping Ms Ingabire form a terrorist organization with the aim of causing state insecurity.
Mr Ngoga said that Ms Ingabire’s personal safety is assured throughout the judicial process and that she will receive a fair trial. He thanked countries in the region for their collaboration and urged other countries from which Rwanda had requested information, including Belgium, Holland, Switzerland and the United States to cooperate in this far-reaching terrorist investigation.
Ms Ingabire has appealed the court decision.
