Diane Rwigara, a 37-year-old businesswoman expressed relief at the judges calling the charges ‘baseless’ and said she would continue campaigning against human rights violations in Rwanda.

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Amnesty International welcomes the acquittal of Diane Rwigara and her mother Adeline and says they should never have been charged and imprisoned for more than a year.

President Paul Kagame faces a flood of international criticism for his spiteful pursuit of a political opponent that included auctioning her personal assets.

Rwigara remained defiant despite facing a 22-year jail sentence and  maintain  she will vociferously champion human rights being trampled by Kagame.

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The the list of those still behind bars demonstrates the continuation of his ruthless crackdown on political opponents.

Victoire Ingabira, who tried to contest the presidential election in 2010, has walked free, having served about half of her 15 year prison sentence.

Diane Rwigara, who tried to run against Paul Kagame last year, is still in jail.

Evidently, Kagame still regards her as a threat.

Rwanda has a higher proportion of women MPs than any other country.

Four of the country’s seven top judges are women. Almost half of Kagame’s Cabinet are women.

Significantly, none of them have ever opposed their autocratic president who has tampered with the constitution to enable him to stay in power until 2034.

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Police in Kigali have not confirmed this. It took them a week to admit they werenholding her after she was reported missing last month.

Diane Rwigara’s brother Aristide, who lives in the United States, says police took her, her mother Adeline and sister Anne from their home last Friday.

They’d been released last week after being held by authorities who at first denied their detention.

Rwigara was expelled as a candidate to run against President Paul Kagame earlier this year.

She accuses Kagame of driving a regime of fear in Rwanda.

Authorities say she’s guilty of tax evasion and forgery and they have locked the doors to her family business.

The post Rwandan police re-arrest women’s rights activist appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

A week after denying any knowledge of her whereabouts when she went missing, the police say they have also arrested her mother and sister.

Diane Rwigara’s been missing since police raided her home a week ago, ostensibly investigating charges of fraud and tax evasion. She says they

The security authorities originally denied holding the 35-year-old accountant  who was prevented from contesting last month’s election won by President Paul Kagame with 98% of the vote.

Rwigara says on twitter police staged a fake forced entry into her house

She’s promised to remove the climate of fear in Rwandan politics that she says sustains Kagame in power.

She accuses him him stifling dissent and keeping a near total hold on power.

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