Diane Rwigara, a political activist who dared to take on President Paul Kagame in Rwanda’s elections was denied bail at the Nyarugenge Intermediate Court, in Rwanda’s Capital, Kigali.
Diane and her mother, Adeline Rwigara were remanded for a further 30 days. However he young sister, Anne Rwigara, was granted bail.
The three jointly face charges related to inciting insurrection.
Diane, a former presidential aspirant, faces additional forgery-related charges. The charges were discovered by the National Electoral Commission during the evaluation of nominations for the recently
concluded presidential elections.
The mother, Adeline Rwigara, also faces another separate charge of divisionism and discrimination, which are punishable by the Rwandan law.
Reading the bail application ruling, the presiding judge said that after “carefully
examining the case, it strongly believed that the two remanded suspects could have committed the charges against them and that they might tamper with the evidence if granted bail.”
Last month, there were unsubstantiated reports that the Rwigara’s family, with the support of what the government identified as ‘external enemies had hatched a plan to overthrow the government.
WhatsApp Voice Notes were released by unknown source which the suspects used when communicating with their external networks about this plan.
Yesterday, the court ruled that the WhatsApp audio files that the prosecution based the indictment were credible evidence implicating Adeline Rwigara, but more investigations are still being carried out.
Diane Rwigara was also remanded based on a press conference she hosted back in July, while launching a human rights movement, where she is said to have incited public insurrection saying that “Rwandans only come together when they are going to kill.”
Court also said that there is strong evidence that Diane illegally accessed and used identification papers of party members—belonging to another Rwandan opposition party, Parti Sociale Imberakuri (PS-Imberakuri)—to solicit components required to run for Presidency.
For Anne who was released on bail, the court said that the prosecution did not prove that she was the one who wrote a letter, circulated to international media, said to incite public insurrection or if her
conversation with her family members was really meant to incite insurrection.
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