By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Victoire Ingabire, a long-time critic of Rwandan leader Paul Kagame, on Tuesday appeared before a court in the capital, Kigali, for the first time since her arrest last month in connection with charges bordering on “subversion”.
The opposition figure had been previously jailed over her unrelenting criticism of Kagame, who has been in power since the end of the East African country’s genocide.
She is one of the few government critics to keep up her activism within Rwanda, as most opponents of Kagame are in exile.
Prosecutors accuse her of plotting to incite public unrest. If found guilty, she could find her way back to prison again for several years.
Prosecutors say she was in contact with nine other suspects, including a journalist identified as Theoneste Nsengimana.
Others are members of the DALFA-Umurinzi group, a party led by Ingabire that is not recognised by authorities.
Ingabire has denied the charges, calling the charges against her politically motivated.
Her bail hearing on Tuesday was adjourned to July 15 after she rejected state attorneys to stand in her defence, instead opting for her choice of a Kenyan team of lawyers.
The court ruled that the case will be heard in a week, whether or not she assembled a defence team of her choice.
Ingabire had previously led the FDU-Inkingi group, a coalition of opposition parties that also was never permitted to register with the government.
She spent 16 years in exile in the Netherlands and returned to Rwanda in 2010 to launch her political career. She was imprisoned before she could contest the presidential election.
She was later found guilty of conspiracy to undermine the government and denying Rwanda’s 1994 genocide, but she denied the charges against her.
Sentenced to 15 years, she was freed in 2018 after obtaining a presidential pardon.
