Strongly condemning politically motivated trials, harassment of political opponents and trials decided in advance, MEPs called on Thursday 6 October for a prompt and impartial review of the Victoire Ingabire case in Rwanda, a review based on the facts, respect for law and freedom from any restriction, unfair influence, pressure or threat. Victoire Ingabire is the president of the Forces Démocratiques Unifiées (FDU) and was sentenced to 15 years in prison for conspiring against the authorities using terrorism and war, minimising the 1994 genocide and spreading rumours with the aim of inciting violence.
In a common statement from the EFDD, ECR, EPP S&D, Greens/EFA and GUE/NGL adopted by show of hand, the European Parliament says the trials and indictments should not be based on vague laws that are deliberately badly interpreted.
The MEPs call for the immediate release of all people charged or imprisoned simply because of exercising the right of expression, association and peaceful assembly. They call on Rwanda to reproduce for human rights the spectacular progress it has achieved in the social and economic domains. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)