Prosecution to arraign 3 more suspects in Ingabire trial

KIGALI - The Prosecutor General, Martin Ngoga, has revealed three former rebels who are alleged to be Victoire Ingabire’s accomplices, will appear in court in the next few days. Lt. Col Tharcisse Mbiturende and Lt. Col Noel Habiyakare, senior commanders of the FDLR (Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda) militia, and Lt. Karuta Jean Marie, are said to have been working with Ingabire to form an armed wing to destabilise the country.

Friday, April 23, 2010

KIGALI - The Prosecutor General, Martin Ngoga, has revealed three former rebels who are alleged to be Victoire Ingabire’s accomplices, will appear in court in the next few days.

Lt. Col Tharcisse Mbiturende and Lt. Col Noel Habiyakare, senior commanders of the FDLR (Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda) militia, and Lt. Karuta Jean Marie, are said to have been working with Ingabire to form an armed wing to destabilise the country.

Ingabire, the president of FDU-Inkingi, an organisation based in Europe trying to register as a political party, is awaiting trial on charges of association with a terrorist group, propagating the Genocide Ideology, Revisionism and Ethnic Division.

Ngoga told The New Times that Mbiturende and Habiyakare "were arrested in cooperation with a neighbouring country” while Karuta was arrested while "carrying out terrorist activities.”

"Ingabire met Mbiturende in Kinshasa where they shared plans to attack the country,” said Ngoga.
"Those arrested were in the process of executing the plan”.

The prosecution maintains that it has irrefutable evidence that Ingabire collaborated with the FDLR commanders to set up an armed group known as FDU/CDF.

Reliable sources say that intercepted email messages, records from Western Union money transfer, and the testimonies of the three arrested men, make up the bulk of the prosecution’s evidence.

"We expect to charge a few more people in this case,” said Ngoga.

Victoire Ingabire was arrested on Wednesday but was granted bail by the court yesterday.

"This  (bail) is not what we had wanted, however, we had no option but to comply with the court order. In the next five days we will decide whether we appeal the decision, but it will depend on our assessment and her ability to comply with the courts conditions,” said the Prosecutor General.

Ends