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Rwanda drops appeal against acquittal of dissident Rwigara
KIGALI, Jan 9, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Rwanda’s government has withdrawn an appeal
against the acquittal of dissident politician Diane Rwigara, who was tried on
charges of inciting insurrection and forgery, prosecutors said Wednesday.
Rwigara was found not guilty last month at the end of the high-profile
trial that highlighted a crackdown on the opposition in the East African
country.
Prosecutors had appealed the acquittal, but the justice ministry last week
instructed them not to go forward with it.
“We got an injunction from the ministry of justice and attorney general to
withdraw the appeal. This is a constitutional injunction and the minster has
the power to make that order, so we have written to the court to withdraw the
appeal,” Faustin Nkusi, spokesman for the National Public Prosecution
Authority told AFP.
Rwigara is the daughter of Assinapol Rwigara, an industrialist who in the
1990s was a major donor to the ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front (FPR) party
before falling out with its leaders.
She became an unusual voice of criticism in tightly-run Rwanda ahead of the
country’s presidential election in August 2017.
Her bid to run in the poll was denied on the grounds she allegedly forged
the signatures of supporters for her application.
She was arrested in September last year and charged with forgery and
inciting insurrection for comments criticising the government and President
Paul Kagame in the run-up to the vote.
After spending over a year in jail, she and her mother were released on
bail in October, and acquitted on December 6.
Their acquittal came at a time of immense international pressure on the
government of Rwanda, with several American legislators, as well as
organisations like Amnesty International calling for their release.
Kagame has been praised for putting Rwanda on the path of economic
transformation after the 1994 genocide that devastated the tiny east African
country.
But he faces regular criticism over rights abuses in his country and
intolerance of the opposition.
BSS/AFP/RY/1558 hrs