Ingabire Victoire appearing in court today
Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza is now under official criminal investigation after a the High Court ruled that there is evidence potentially linking her to a group accused of attempting to overthrow the government.
It follows her appearance this Thursday after she was summoned by same Court on Tuesday.
The Court has ruled that Ingabire be questioned and added as a co-defendant in the high-profile case involving nine suspects, among them journalist Théoneste Nsengimana and Sylvain Sibomana, both of whom have been in detention since 2021.
The prosecution alleges that the accused were involved in planning political training sessions aimed at mobilizing support for unconstitutional regime change.
Prosecutors claim that Victoire Ingabire played a key role in preparing and organizing those trainings—a central reason why she was summoned to court this week.
However, during her appearance in court on Thursday, Ingabire firmly denied any involvement in the alleged activities.
Speaking in court, she stated that although she knows some of the accused, she and her political party never organized or participated in the trainings in question.
Accompanied by her lawyer Gatera Gashabana, Ingabire explained that neither she nor her party, DALFA–Umurinzi, were involved in any effort to overthrow the government, whether by violent or non-violent means. She said she had no knowledge of the trainings mentioned by the prosecution.
Ingabire further clarified that DALFA–Umurinzi is not a legally registered political party, and despite numerous attempts to obtain legal status, those efforts failed.
“That party couldn’t have achieved anything because it wasn’t legally recognized,” she told the court.
Gatera Gashabana, her lawyer, reinforced the point, telling judges that his client had faced major obstacles in trying to register the party and that it remains unrecognized by law.
Ingabire told the court that once she realized that the registration process was becoming too difficult, she instructed the interim committee she had appointed to halt all recruitment and mobilization activities for the party.
Despite these explanations, the prosecution continued to link her to the events under investigation.
In particular, prosecutors claimed that the alleged trainings were closely associated with “Ingabire Day,” an annual event organized by some Rwandans in the diaspora who support her politically.
Responding to that claim, Ingabire rejected the connection.
She said the trainings and Ingabire Day were entirely unrelated, emphasizing that the event is organized independently by diaspora groups, and that her only involvement is occasionally sending a message when asked.
Before she took the stand, the presiding judge sought to ease tension in the courtroom, telling Ingabire to consider herself as someone providing information to the court, and not as a defendant trying to justify themselves.
After hearing her statements, the judges went into private deliberations to assess whether the information and explanations she provided were sufficient.
They later returned to announce that they found her statements inadequate, and that there was credible evidence pointing to her possible involvement in crimes committed by others already accused.
As a result, the court ordered the prosecution to conduct a thorough investigation within two weeks and confirmed that Victoire Ingabire will be formally added to the list of defendants in the case.
The court set the next hearing for 7 July 2025.
