RWANDA
Dissent on Trial
The trial of Rwanda’s most prominent dissident politician began Wednesday with prosecutors demanding Diane Rwigara be sentenced to 22 years behind bars on charges of forgery and inciting insurrection.
But Rwigara, who was released on bail recently after a year in jail, insists that she’s innocent and the charges have been cooked up to silence her criticism of long-serving President Paul Kagame, the UK’s Guardian newspaper reported.
Kagame has brought relative prosperity to Rwanda since the 1994 genocide. But critics say he has also turned the country into an authoritarian, one-party state – reflected in the 99 percent share of the vote he managed in winning a third consecutive term last year.
Rwigara is accused of forging signatures on electoral documents so she could get on the ballot. But she says that charge was only a pretext to stop her from running. As for inciting insurrection, she says she was only speaking the truth.
“I stand by my remarks,” she told the court’s three judges.
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