MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION on Rwanda: case of Victoire Ingabire
21.5.2013 - (2013/2641(RSP))
pursuant to Rule 122 of the Rules of Procedure
Véronique De Keyser, María Muñiz De Urquiza, Ana Gomes, Ricardo Cortés Lastra, Raimon Obiols, Liisa Jaakonsaari, Mitro Repo on behalf of the S&D Group
See also joint motion for a resolution RC-B7-0243/2013
The European Parliament,
- having regard to its previous resolutions;
having regard to the answer by VP/HR Ashton to a EP written question regarding Victoire Ingabire, EP Plenary, 4 February 2013
- having regard to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights of 1966;
- having regard to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights (ACHPR);
- having regard to the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance;
- having regard to the Partnership Agreement between the members of the African,
Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States, of the one part, and the European
Community, on the other part, signed in Cotonou on 23 June 2000 (the Cotonou
Agreement);
- having regard to Rule 122 of its Rules of Procedure;
A. whereas Victoire Ingabire, President of the United Democratic Forces (FDU-Inkingi) an
unauthorised opposition party , and a candidate for the presidential elections in
Rwanda in 2010, was ultimately barred from running and was arrested on 14
October 2010; whereas the elections were won with 93% by the outgoing President,
Paul Kagame, Leader of the Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF); whereas the FDU-Inkingi
had not been able to register as a political party before the 2010 elections, whereas
other opposition parties were subject to similar treatment;
B. whereas on 30 October 2012 Victoire Ingabire was convicted and sentenced to eight
years in prison on charges of conspiracy to harm the authorities using terrorism and
minimizing the 1994 genocide because of her presumed relations with the Democratic
Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), a Hutu rebel group;
C. whereas in April 2013 during her appeal in front of the Supreme Court, she was sentenced on the grounds of new charges based on documents found on Wikipedia and not based on legal documents and which according to her Defense Counsel were not presented during the trial while it had cleared her of the 6 charges submitted by the Prosecution; whereas the two new charges include negations/revisionism and high treason;
D. whereas in May 2013, after having testified against Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza in Rwandan High court in 2012, four prosecution witnesses and co-accused told the Supreme Court that their testimonies were falsified; whereas a prominent human rights organisation expressed concerns about their ‘‘prolonged incommunicado detention’’ and the use of torture to coerce confessions’’;
E. whereas the Rwandan national law and judiciary contravenes international conventions that Rwanda is party to, particularly the international conventions on civil and political rights, specifically the freedom of expression and of thought, which the Rwandan government signed on the 16/07/1997;
F. whereas prominent NGOs denounced numerous irregularities that marred the fairness of the trial and also deplores that the Rwandan justice did not take into account the accusations formulated by Ms Ingabire herself;
G. whereas the accused boycotted her trial since April 2012 to protest against "the intimidation and illegal interrogation practices which certain of her co-accused had undergone (...) and against the court's decision to shorten the audition of a defence witness accusing the Rwanda authorities of fabricating evidence against her;
H. whereas Bernard Ntaganda, Founder of the PS-Imberakuri party, was sentenced to four years in prison charged with endangering national security, “divisionism,” and attempting to organize demonstrations without authorization;
I. whereas on 13 September 2012, Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza, together with two other Rwandan political figures Bernard Ntaganda and Deogratias Mushyayidi - all currently imprisoned in Kigali, was nominated for the European Parliament's Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought 2012.
1. Expresses its strongest concerns on the arrest and sentence to 8 years in prison of the opposition leader Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza;
2. Calls on Supreme Court to review the trial and calls on the government of Rwanda to ensure the independency and impartiality of the judiciary as well as fairness of her trial;
3. Recalls that the freedom of assembly, association and expression are essential components in any democracy and considers that those principles are subject to serious restrictions au Rwanda;
4. Condemns all forms of repression, intimidation and detention of political activists as well
as journalists and human rights activists; urges the authorities to immediately release
all individuals and other activists, who have been detained or convicted solely for
exercising their rights of freedom of expression, association, and peaceful assembly;
5. Urges the Rwanda government to comply with international law and to respect the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights of 1966; and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights;
6. Expresses its concern that, 19 years after the RPF came into power and two years after the re election of President Kagame, Rwanda still does not have any functioning opposition political parties and urges the government to ensure and accept the participation of opposition parties in a democratic society;
7. Considers that the 2008 genocide-ideology law used to accuse Victoire Ingabire was ambiguous and served as a political instrument to silence criticism of the government;
8. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the Vice-President of the Commission/High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the governments and parliaments of the Member States, the President, Government and Parliament of Rwanda.