As the case against Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza continued at the High Court, yesterday, documents seized from her Kigali and Dutch homes were the centre of attention. The documents, dated between 2004 and 2006, are part of the evidence presented by Prosecution proving that Ingabire and her co-accused were allegedly planning terrorist activities. Judges sought to ascertain the legitimacy of two documents, one seized from Ingabire’s home in Holland and another from her Kigali residence, which Prosecution allege proves Ingabire’s communication with her co-accused, as well as activities designed to create a military organisation. The head judge, Alice Rulisa, requested Ingabire to elaborate more on some of the accusations linking her to the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) and other political groupings, mainly based in Europe, and defend herself against the allegations that she wanted to form an armed wing of FDU-Inkingi, the organisation she heads. One of the documents allegedly shows the alliances between the Europe-based groups, which eventually led to the creation of FDLR. Ingabire replied that while many groups merged, she remained the leader of the non-military political wing, while others, led by Ignace Murwanashyaka, opted for a military option. Ingabire told the court that the groups under her leadership signed a charter in October 2006 to form one organisation, FDU-Inkingi. But a document dated February 2005 seized from her house in Holland allegedly indicates that the political groups agreed to come together and form one front. The same document indicates that when the groups came together, they also agreed to form an armed group called Coalition of Defence Forces (CDF), as evidenced in the emails exchanged between Lt. Col Tharcisse Nditurende and Ingabire shows, countered the Prosecution. Ingabire denied any such development, though she admitted that at one point there was communication between her and the alleged commander of CDF. She denies there was any plan to cause insecurity or secure weapons, as one of the email states. According to the Prosecution document, CDF, which constitutes former commanders of FDLR, would recruit 500 people who would cause insecurity in Rwanda and force a political dialogue between the government and FDU-Inkingi. Ingabire said that while she could have received emails from her co-accused, suggesting the military course, there is no evidence to prove that it was her plan or that she responded to them in the affirmative. The Judge looked into the coalition charter and asked Ingabire what the “committee for security and defence” was charged with, to which she responded that after the 2006 coalition, there was a need to form a committee to provide security during party meetings. Attention then shifted to a document recovered from her house in Kigali, which allegedly proves that she planned terrorist acts, but Ingabire said that the document found in her drawer was not her own publication. “It could have been picked from the Internet or brought by someone l am not aware of,” she said. The Judge asked Ingabire to explain how the document ended up in her house but she maintained she had no knowledge of the document. Ingabire’s defence team argued that the document are a tract which should not be given any weight in the case. The Prosecutor, Bonaventure Ruberwa, maintained that Ingabire should explain the documents, which show the activities some of the parties under the coalition are involved in, and stop saying that the document was useless.“We plead with the Court to request Ingabire to stop from diverting from real issues. We have a document which has facts. She is trying to downplay it, saying that these organisations had ceased to exist by 2006. There should be evidence to that effect, not mere words,” Ruberwa said. The case continues today.
