RWANDA HOLDS POLITICAL PRISONER VICTOIRE INGABIRE IN DEPLORABLE CONDITIONS

 

On Tuesday, February 17, 2015, the Ambassador of the Netherlands in Kigali, Ms. Leoni Cuelenaere, paid a visit to political prisoner and President of FDU-Inkingi, Ms. Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza, in her cell in the Kigali Central Prison. The visit took place after the ambassador’s long struggle to see for herself the prison conditions of Ms. Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza. They have deteriorated since the change in leadership at the central prison.

 

Ignoring all diplomatic protocol, the prison authorities unceremoniously forced the ambassador to meet Ms. Ingabire in the management offices, and instructed her to speak in English so that the conversation could be recorded. Indeed, there was a security agent in the office who recorded the conversation with his mobile phone. Poor lighting in the prison, which is part of the newly introduced measures taken by prison authorities against Ms. Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza, has affected her eyesight and she was recently taken to hospital for medical treatment. Her complaints about the effect of poor lighting on her eyesight have been persistently ignored.

 

FDU-Inkingi would like to express their thanks to the Ambassador of the Netherlands and through her thank her country, for her determination and perseverance in resisting intimidation and going ahead to see for herself the bad treatment of our leader, who is a political prisoner.

 

FDU-Inkingi deplore and condemn this unbecoming treatment of a diplomat from a country, which is yet in the circle of friends of the regime, in an attempt to deter her country from monitoring the conditions of detention of Ms. Ingabire.

 

FDU-Inkingi reiterates that the Rwandan problem is primarily political and it will in no way be resolved by political trial. The solution lies in opening the political space for all political views and accepting a Highly Inclusive National Political Dialogue.

 

 

FDU-Inkingi