Kabuye in court today

PARIS - The Director of State Protocol, Rose Kabuye, is expected to appear before a panel of French judges today for the mention of her case. This comes two months after her arrest in Germany and the subsequent bail granted by a French court. The date of her appearance had been earlier confirmed by Information Minister Louise Mushikiwabo. Kabuye’s arrest stemmed from the 2006 indictments issued against her and eight other government officials by French judge Jean Louis Bruguière. Following her bail, Kabuye, who like the rest of the indicted officials is a former member of the Rwandese Patriotic Front (RPF), had her bail conditions modified towards the end of last year so that she could be in Rwanda for the festive season and she reported back to Paris on January 10 as had been requested by the court. Shortly before her departure, the senior government official told the media that the trial would give her a chance to plead her innocence since the judge had not given her any before issuing the widely contested indictments. Prior to her arrest, she together with two other officers had challenged the legitimacy of the indictments but until her arrest, no date had been fixed for this hearing. Her arrest which took place on November 10 sparked massive protests both in and outside the country and the government of Rwanda called it ‘an attack on the sovereignty of the country.’ In a related development, a Belgian court is expected to give a verdict over its competency to try a case lodged by two other officers faced with similar indictments. Army Chief of Staff Lt Gen Charles Kayonga and Brig Gen Jack Nziza jointly sued both the French and Belgian governments alongside Bruguière. The two European governments were accused of having accepted to execute the indictments but earlier this month; the French filed an application challenging the competency of the Belgian court to try them on the basis of what they called sovereign immunity. Other parties that widely condemned the indictments include the African Union which said that this was another form bullying to Africans by European countries. Ends

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Kabuye in court today