Rwanda: Secret services in flagrante delicto fabricating criminal
evidence against opposition leader, Mrs. Victoire Ingabire.
Sylvain Sibomana, Secretary General FDU INKINGI, Kigali, 30/03/10
The determination of the regime to derail the democratic process will know no limits as
long as the main bilateral partners of Rwanda remain, once again, silent while the country
is obviously sinking in a new political and military crisis. The escalating campaign of
persecution and harassment of the opposition has reached a critical point. In a witchhunting strategy to destroy or to put a stop to the opposition before they have a chance to
put forward their ideas and make political gains, the secret services have resorted to
fabricating criminal evidence by all means including the internet and electronic
surveillance.
Leave alone the questionable use by the government of electronic wide-reaching
surveillance tools, in a country like Rwanda, to spy on its citizens and residents
(wiretapping; interception of phone calls, emails and internet), the shame is to use the
technology to create baseless facts against people i.e. editing emails print-outs and
computer hacking.
Since February 2010, only three weeks in her home country after 17 years in exile, the
National Police mirroring threats from the President started the grilling of the FDU
Inkingi Chair, Mrs Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza. The aim of those endless interrogations is
obviously to deter her determination, to dig anything that would help the government
reject the registration of the political party, to freeze her freedom and finally to throw her
in jail. In this respect, she is placed under a permanent surveillance, her communications
are monitored and many hacking attempts to our computers have been noticed, while
intelligence “technicians” have been alternatively emailing threats, security advices and
volunteering offers on behalf of so called rebel groups. In order to substantiate the
accusations of collaboration with FDLR rebels, secret services are using rebel fugitives,
recruits prepared by some RDF intelligence officers including Major John (.) engaged in
cross border secret operations, and attacks to my private emails pretending to deliver
security and terrain reports. One of the email address used by the attackers is for instance
JACKSON Emmanuel <gtosben@yahoo.fr <mailto:gtosben@yahoo.fr> > migrating
from different Internet Providers (IP) 80.255.61.162 or 80.255.61.162 or 196.44.240.62
or 196.44.240.61 and 196.44.240.62. Our computer trackers have noticed that those mails
written in English, use Kigali MTN severs, AFRINIC internet service provider, Kinshasa
Intelsat with links to GAUTENG-JOHANNESBURG (Reassignment to VODACOM
CUSTOMER, SOUTH AFRICA). The timing of this serial mailing is related to police
summons and the content is always referring to unknown rebel activities, plans and
orders in the DRC, secret missions linked to strange code names such as CAMBA, etc, …
Some of those emails have been posted via Rwandatel servers to our IP for example on
March 24th and 29th 2010 while Mrs. Victoire Ingabire was being interrogated the whole
day in the CID and troubling similarities with the main questions raised at the very time
by investigators tend to confirm the existence of an active direct link between the strange
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secret agent and the investigating team. Other details related to weird email address, or
an unknown Congo based rebel group “CDF”, or anonymous letters and other baseless
accusations reveal that the secret services machinery behind this grilling has left no
means behind. The details of this information are available to the media.
Whereas some members of the police and the army are manipulated for partisan goals we
are aware of the growing frustrations of many officers on account of, among many other
reasons, gloomy management and politicization of their institutions, unfair rules of
promotions and deployments.
We condemn humiliation tactics used by the police as a way of breaking down the morale
of our leader: arrest at the airport, search with sniffer dogs, lengthy interrogations, and
long waiting hours in the CID corridors and handbag routine scrutiny by policemen.
Officially her case is still pending police investigations but curiously an undercover
prosecution officer is participating in the grilling sessions.
The Minister of Justice Tharcisse Karugarama in an interview with Radio Netherlands
Worldwide last week stated that “the police hasn't found hard facts"… “They have not
found evidence to incriminate her. Once the investigation shows that she's innocent,
nobody will touch her. But everybody in Rwanda should be held accountable and play by
the rules." Nevertheless, Mrs Victoire’s party was denied many times to convene and
register by the Minister of Local government on the pretext of the politically motivated
endless police harassment.
The United Democratic Forces, FDU INKINGI, are considering ways of lawsuits against
this police endless wild-goose chase and the Minister of local government for
harassment, abuse of powers, violations of the laws and the use of the institutions for
political purposes and partisan’s interests.
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