The following statement has been issued by the Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice, Human Rights Foundation, and Freedom Now.
A tireless opposition figure, Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza has faced heavy repression at the hands of Rwandan President Paul Kagame’s regime for years. On Friday, March 27, 2026, the Rwandan Supreme Court rejected Ingabire’s challenge to the constitutionality of her June 2025 arrest and ongoing detention. This decision clears the way for Rwandan prosecutors to proceed with Ingabire’s trial, in which they seek a life sentence — a trial that will almost surely be unjust.
Ingabire was previously arrested in 2010, when she returned to Rwanda after leading an opposition coalition in exile. She was imprisoned for nearly eight years on charges of genocide denial and conspiring against the country through terrorism and war, though human rights experts condemned the trial as politically motivated. She won her case before the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights and received a presidential pardon in 2018. However, she was not allowed to register her party, was barred from running in Rwanda’s 2024 presidential election, and was repeatedly denied permission to travel outside of Rwanda to visit her family.
Her re-arrest on June 19, 2025 took place only hours after she had fulfilled her civic duty as a witness in a trial concerning nine defendants, including eight members of her political party, Development and Liberty for All (DALFA-Umurinzi), and an independent journalist. Given Rwanda’s lack of an independent judiciary, it is highly unlikely, bordering on impossible, for Ingabire to receive a free and fair trial in the Rwandan courts. Her rights to due process have been violated from the outset of this ordeal, when agents from the Rwandan Investigation Bureau arrested her without presenting an arrest warrant.
The Supreme Court’s decision in Ingabire’s case is part of a pattern that sees Rwanda’s courts serving the regime’s political interests rather than justice. The trials of other dissidents and activists have likewise been rife with due process violations and have rarely ended in fair verdicts. A vocal critic of the regime like Victoire Ingabire cannot hope for justice in such a system.
In this harsh context, the international community must ensure that the Rwandan regime does not act with impunity. International legal monitors, in particular, must pay close attention to Ingabire’s trial as it progresses. Greater scrutiny will make it more difficult for the Rwandan regime to use the judicial system as cover to target and silence those who dare to speak out.
We call on Rwanda to immediately and unconditionally release Victoire Ingabire and drop the charges against her. Until then, we urge the international community to monitor her trial and use its diplomatic leverage to hold Rwanda accountable to its human rights obligations.
Background
Ingabire has been joined to the trial of the aforementioned nine defendants, who have been detained since 2021 on charges of forming a criminal organization and spreading false information merely for attending an online training on nonviolent resistance. In 2024, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention issued a decision condemning the imprisonment of the nine detainees as unlawful and calling for their release.
The prosecution first investigated and interrogated Ingabire in 2021 in relation to these events and concluded that there were no grounds for a case against her. On June 17, 2025, the High Court ordered the prosecution to conduct a second investigation into Ingabire’s alleged role in the training, which ultimately led to her arrest. The High Court’s order for a second investigation violates the principles of prosecutorial independence and the presumption of innocence, both protected by the Rwandan Constitution. Furthermore, the judges who ordered the second investigation will now decide the outcome of her case — a clear violation of judicial impartiality.
The trumped-up charges against Ingabire include allegedly establishing or joining a criminal organization, inciting public unrest, undermining the authority of the government, spreading false information to discredit Rwanda abroad, conspiring to incite public disorder, and conspiring to organize a demonstration. For these, the prosecution is requesting a life sentence.
The European Parliament has called for her release, and UN Special Rapporteurs have expressed concern. In November 2025, the Human Rights Foundation, Freedom Now, and the Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice submitted an individual complaint to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, asking it to declare her detention arbitrary and in violation of international law.