A Rwandan court on Wednesday found opposition leader and government critic Victoire Ingabire ineligible to run in the July presidential elections because of previous convictions for terrorism and genocide denial.
“I disagree with this ruling. It is clearly politicised. We still have a country where the courts are still not independent,” she told newsmen after the Kigali high court ruling.
In 2018, Victoire Ingabire, a vocal critic of Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame, was granted a presidential pardon after spending eight years in prison.
Kagame, who has been in power for decades, is expected to win a fourth seven-year term in the upcoming elections, thanks to controversial constitutional amendments potentially extending his rule until 2034.
Despite his overwhelming victories in previous elections, his only significant challenger this time is Frank Habineza, leader of the Green Party, while other opposition parties support the ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front.
Ingabire, an ethnic Hutu, faced charges of “divisionism” for challenging the government’s narrative of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi minority.
While Kagame is credited with bringing stability to Rwanda, his government’s poor human rights record has been widely criticised.
