KIGALI: A Rwandan court on Wednesday refused to restore opposition leader Victoire Ingabire’s civic rights and remove her previous convictions for terrorism and genocide denial, rendering her ineligible to run in the July presidential elections.
A staunch critic of Rwanda’s long-ruling President Paul Kagame, Ingabire spent 8 years in prison before receiving a presidential pardon in 2018 that cut short her fifteen-year sentence.
She had asked the Kigali high court to remove her convictions, which would allow her to contest the July 15 elections despite a legal ban on convicted candidates who have been jailed for 6 months or longer, AFP reported.
The court finds that in the presidential pardon granted to Ingabire, there were conditions that were set that she must follow, therefore her appeal has no basis, the judge said.
According to Rwandan law, Ingabire will be allowed to appeal the ruling only after two years.
Elections in Rwanda
The elections are widely expected to return Kagame to office for a fourth 7-year term after he presided over controversial constitution amendments allowing him to potentially rule until 2034.
The 66-year-old has been at the helm of the landlocked African country for decades, winning presidential polls in 2003, 2010 and 2017 — with more than 90% of the vote.
Kagame’s only known challenger in the July elections is Green Party leader Frank Habineza, who secured 0.45% of the vote in 2017. All other legally registered opposition parties support the ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front.
Ingabire’s Dalfa Umurinzi (Development And Liberty For All) movement is not officially registered in the country.
