The defence team of Victoire Ingabire, leader of the
opposition party United Democratic Forces (UDF), is getting ready for
trial. Ingabire is accused of collaborating with a terrorist
organisation, dividing the people of Rwanda and denying the 1994
genocide. But who is actually defending her? Three lawyers are struggling to find their way in this "sensitive and very unclear" case.
Robert Alun Jones
From RADIO NETHERLAND
A top British laywer, Jones represented the Spanish government in the
famous case against former Chilean dictator Genaral Augusto Pinochet
(1998-2000).
The barrister has past experience with Rwanda. He successfully
defended Vincent Brown, a Rwandan doctor arrested in London on suspicion
of murder during the Rwandan Genocide in 1994. Kigali demanded his
extradition. Jones, who had been living for years in the UK, was
acquitted in 2009.
Jones will defend Ingabire, not in his own country but in Rwanda.
Iain Edwards
Edwards, a British lawyer with ten years of experience behind him, is
specialised in criminal law and human rights. He is fluent in French and
also has a particular interest in immigration issues with clients
facing the risk of deportation.
Edwards has also been working for the International Criminal Tribunal
for Rwanda in Arusha, Tanzania. His clients are charged with genocide
and crimes against humanity arising from the Rwandan 1994 genocide.
“We hope that it will be a fair trial. But it’s far too early to
say”, Edwards told RNW on the phone with regards to Ingabire’s case. He
sees it as being sensitive and very unclear.
“We have no idea what the schedule looks like, but it seems that the
prosecutor has a limited amount of evidence. Ingabire hasn’t even been
charged yet. We think that the prosecutor is still trying to find
evidence.”
Edwards met with Ingabire in Kigali this year, when he dealt with the imprisonment of her American lawyer Peter Erlinder.
Gatera Gashabana
By proximity, this Rwandan lawyer is probably the most engaged one in Ingabire’s case. He visits her regularly in her cell.
According to Gatera, Ingabire’s imprisonment is "unlawful". Until
now, he feels that the judge has not taken his arguments into
consideration, he told RNW.
"The accusation is based on a testimony of a
person who declared that he and Ingabire had the intention to create a
military organisation. This declaration cannot be taken into
consideration because this person is also accused. According to our law,
this testimony doesn’t have any value”, Gatera argues.
"Furthermore, there are e-mails in which Victoire has written about
the military organisation to fight the power in place in our country.
But according to our laws, e-mails don’t have any value in court."
No comments:
Post a Comment