Rwanda continues to torture political opponents

RWANDA : THE LATEST EPISODE IN THE PSHYCHOLOGICAL AND PHYSICAL TORTURE OF FDU-INKINGI LEADERSHIP Mrs. VICTOIRE INGABIRE AND SIBOMANA SYLIVAIN

PRESS RELEASE

 

In our earlier press release of the 28th July 2015 we informed you of the harsh conditions that the prison authorities had imposed on FDU-Inkingi Chair Mrs Victoire Ingabire. The conditions included denying her access to her lawyer who is representing her in her appeal to the African Human and People Rights Court.Despite the fact that the government was quite aware of the representation and had responded to the Court’s request and that there has been exchange of memos between Victoire lawyer and the government, the government has asked the lawyer to make a new application to meet his client, Victoire Ingabire in prison. Despite this anomaly the lawyer still made a new application to visit Mrs Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza but has not received any response.

 

From the 11th of August 2015, the prison authorities, in an attempt to humiliate her and threaten her, have introduced a new directive that her food must be examined by intelligence service agents to ensure that there is no drug or any other item that is hidden in her food. Up to this date the search was being done by prison guards. This time around the intelligence agents, use their own forks that are not trusted in meeting food hygiene requirements. Worse still the food is turned up and down and mixed up to make it look eventually like the food served to pigs. Mrs Ingabire has obviously refused to eat such food.

It is clear that the prison authorities are determined to refuse her getting food from outside prison and yet this had been agreed for medical reasons.

At the same time the Secretary General of FDU-Inkingi Sylvain Sibomana is suffering the same fate. Due to medical reasons he was also getting food from outside the prison. The medical certificate no 1003/08/201 was duly issued by a competent medical doctor. However for no valid reasons the Gasabo prison authorities have stopped him getting the food from outside of prison and therefore, Sylvain has not received food since Friday 7th August 2015.

FDU INKINGI condemns again in the strongest terms possible the RPF regime for the torture of FDU-Inkingi leadership in violation of fundamental human rights and of the International convention against torture, unhuman and degrading treatment of persons including prisoners.

 

Done in Kigali 11/08/2015

Boniface Twagirimana

1st Vice president of FDU-Inkingi

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