| Ingabire Verdict Set for Friday |  |  |  |
of Gasabo last month prolonged her provisional detention for 30 more days to allow Prosecution complete investigations into her case before it is brought to court for trial.Ingabire Umuhoza Victoire, leader of the yet-to-be registered FDU/INKINGI party filed an appeal at the High Court on November 30, four days after the Court House of Gasabo ruled in favour of Prosecution to detain her for an additional 30 days as she sought the High Court to overturn that decision to allow her to be tried while out of detention.
Prosecution accuses Ingabire, who was arrested on October 14 and Major Vital Uwumuremyi her co-accused, of plotting to form a terrorist group, CDF as an armed wing of FDU/INKINGI and depriving the country of stability.
In her opening arguments, Ingabire said Prosecution has no case against her since they’ve failed to find a single crime against her in the last ten months that they’ve been investigating her meaning that they are finding it difficult even to fabricate charges.
Ingabire denied trying to overthrow the government saying that she has no problem with any Rwandan leader but only disagrees with them on political issues. She said her party doesn’t have an army and that the Rwandan army does a good job.
Ingabire said the case against her was a political one because she is a politician. She asked Prosecution to bring the case to court for trial instead of leaving her to rot in jail. She asked court to provisionally release her as Prosecution fabricates charges against her.
Ingabire’s lawyer, Gatera Gashabana said they were disappointed that the Gasabo judge, Shumbusho Abraham was biased by siding with Prosecution. He added that Prosecution has all along contradicted itself by coming up with new charges every time.
He also accused the Gasabo judge of attempting to deny his client the right to defend herself. He said that the grounds for Ingabire’s earlier detention have since expired therefore she should be released.
The Prosecutor, Ruberwa Bonaventure told court that contrary to assertions by Ingabire and her lawyer, it wasn’t surprising for charges to change because as investigations unearth new information it was normal for charges to change accordingly.
Ruberwa reminded Gashabana that as a lawyer, he should not complain that Prosecution is taking long to complete investigations because in a criminal case like this one, Rwandan law allows them to ask for provisional detention of a suspect up to 12 times as investigations go on.
Ruberwa said that Ingabire can not dictate how many witnesses they interrogate because this will depend on how much information they want. He also accused Gashabana of undermining and disrespecting the Gasabo judge adding that if the judge does not agree with his arguments, this does not mean that he is biased.
After listening to both sides’ submissions that lasted over two and a half hours, the presiding judge, Nzamuye Jean Marie Vianney set the ruling for Friday, December 17th at 2pm.
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