Prosecution has today requested for a life sentence and a fine of Frw 1,400,000 for Victoire Ingabire, on charges including complicity in a terrorist group and denying the 1994 Genocide against ethnic Tutsi.
“We request a life sentence for Victoire Ingabire,” Deputy Prosecutor General Alphonse Hitiyaremye said at the conclusion of Ingabire’s trial that has been ongoing for over seven months.
However, Inagbire’s four co-accused including; Maj. Uwumuremyi Vital, Lt. Col. Nditurende Tharcisse, Lt. Col. Habiyaremye Noel and Capt. Karuta JMV appeared in court today. Prosecution requested a sentence of ten years in jail for Ingabire’s Four co-accused.
Ingabire last week said she would boycott her trial after the court cut short a defence witness who accused government of rigging evidence against her.
Judges will give a verdict on June 29. Ingabire,was not in court- she is charged with “giving financial support to a terrorist group, planning to cause state insecurity and divisionism.” She denies the charges.
Ingabire’s British lawyer Iain Edwards said he and his Rwandan colleague “are still very much in contact with her.”
“We await with interest the verdict in this case and look forward to starting the inevitable appeal process,” Edwards said.
“That process will not end within the borders of the Republic of Rwanda. Victoire is ready for that process and looks to the future with courage, patience and a strong conviction that the truth will eventually be known.”
Prosecution says it has evidence of Ingabire’s alleged “terrorist” activities, including proof of financial transfers to the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) based in DR-Congo.
“We have evidence proving her crimes,” said Alain Mukurarinda, a member of the prosecution team.
“We found documents in her house in Netherlands clearly stating she was attempting to form an armed group aimed at committing terror attacks in Rwanda.”
Ingabire has been in custody since her arrest in October 2010.
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