Former Rwandan opposition leader asks court to restore her civic rights

Rwanda's historic opposition leader, Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza, has filed a case before the East African Court of Justice (EACJ) seeking a re-establishment of her civic rights, including the right to stand in the next elections.

Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza initiated proceedings earlier this week. 

In March 2024, the High Court in Rwanda controversially denied Ingabire Umuhoza's application for rehabilitation, "preventing her from recovering her civic rights, including the right to travel out of Rwanda and to participate in any elections in Rwanda", her lawyers wrote in a press release.

Ingabire Umuhoza is represented by a multinational legal team, including Rwandan lawyer Gatera Gashabana, as well as Kenyan and European lawyers.

The High Court's decision represents "the latest episode in a series of systematic efforts by the Rwandan State to prevent Ms Ingabire Umuhoza from participating, in any way, in Rwandan political life", they added.

A few days before filing the case Ingabire told RFI English, "I want to get my civic rights back.

"My party cannot be registered. Three party members have been killed. Four are missing. And nine are in prison. There is literally no space for opposition in Rwanda."

Long-time opponent

At 66, Rwanda's President, Paul Kagame, a former military officer and Tutsi rebel, is running for a fifth mandate, after having been the head of state since 2000.

Ingabire left Rwanda in March 1994 to study and live in the Netherlands, where she later got married.

She founded a political party in 2006 then returned to Rwanda In January 2010, after years of exile, to participate in the Presidential elections scheduled to take place later that year.

Instead, she was arrested and convicted to 15 years' imprisonment.

Her trial was internationally condemned as being politically motivated.

She appealed before the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights which ruled that the Rwandan State had violated her rights to freedom of expression and a defense.

In September 2018, Ingabire Umuhoza was released following a Presidential pardon, after serving eight years in prison, five of which were spent in solitary confinement.

The decision violates Rwanda's obligations under the East African Community Treaty, which require Rwanda to abide by fundamental principles of democracy, rule of law, and human rights.

Lack of democracy

Ingabire Umuhoza's claim before the EACJ also includes other requests to remove restrictions preventing her from leaving Rwanda.

She hopes to attend the wedding of her son, the birth of her grandchild, or to visit her gravely ill husband in The Netherlands.

It primarily files "an urgent request for interim measures", to prevent the "irreparable harm that would be caused from precluding her from registering as a presidential candidate" in line with the timetable for the Presidential election scheduled for 15 July 2024.

"Paul Kagame has all the power in his hands in Rwanda," she told RFI. "Justice is not independent, nor the parliament. and only the presidency runs the country. How is this democratic? Kagame was the leader Rwanda needed after the genocide, he brought back order. But now the population has changed, is much younger, and needs a different kind of leadership."