The Lantos Foundation, Freedom Now, and the Human Rights Foundation are proud to announce their nomination of Ms. Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza for the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) 2026 Václav Havel Human Rights Prize. In doing so, we recognize her contributions and leadership in the struggle for democracy, peace, rule of law, and human rights in Rwanda. Ms. Ingabire has campaigned tirelessly for these values for over a decade, despite enduring continuous persecution by her own government.
Today, Ms. Ingabire sits in detention, facing a possible life sentence if convicted of the fabricated charges brought against her. June 19, 2026 marked one year since her politically motivated arrest. It is far past time for Rwanda to drop the charges and immediately and unconditionally release her.
If selected, Ms. Ingabire would be the first Václav Havel Human Rights Prize recipient from the African continent and emblematic of the many brave opposition voices in the region leading the ongoing struggle for peace, rights, and democracy. These are the values that unite PACE members and their global partners, and which recipients of the Václav Havel Human Rights Prize courageously defend.
Throughout her ordeals, Ms. Ingabire has remained undaunted, refusing to be silenced. She has never stopped advocating for a just, peaceful, and democratic Rwanda, even when afraid for her life. The Rwandan regime has a well-documented track record of silencing its critics through imprisonment, forced disappearance and even extrajudicial killings; Ingabire’s own colleagues and fellow party members have been victims of such abuses. But Ms. Ingabire courageously pressed on with her advocacy, earning the nickname “icon for democracy” among her supporters. She has written that this unwavering support is what sustains her hope for a better future for Rwanda. The tragedies she has witnessed and endured only strengthen her resolve to continue working towards it.
In a country where dissent has been threatened and stifled under the decades-long dictatorship of President Paul Kagame, Ms. Ingabire stands as a courageous, relentless voice for change. We urge the government of Rwanda to immediately and unconditionally release Ms. Ingabire so she may freely continue her work for this cause, and to end its repression of all civil society actors.
Ms. Ingabire’s nomination is also sponsored by international human rights lawyers Ms. Kate Gibson and Mr. Iain Edwards.
Background
Ms. Ingabire is a prominent opposition politician in Rwanda and a long-standing figure in the pro-democracy movement. She founded the opposition party United Democratic Forces (FDU-Inkingi) while living in exile in The Netherlands. In January 2010, Ms. Ingabire returned to Rwanda to challenge incumbent Paul Kagame in the presidential elections. The regime refused to register DFU-Inkingi and, in October 2010, arrested Ms. Ingabire. They charged her with offenses linked to “terrorist acts” and “genocide denial,” for public comments she made criticizing the government. In 2012, Ms. Ingabire was handed a sentence of eight years in prison, which the Supreme Court later increased to 15 years. In 2017, the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights found Rwanda had violated Ingabire’s rights to free expression and a fair trial.
In September 2018, Ingabire received a presidential pardon and was released from prison, but faced severe restrictions on her freedom. She was monitored, blocked from registering a new political party (Development and Liberty for All, DALFA-Umurinzi) or running in elections, and prohibited from traveling freely, preventing her from visiting her gravely ill husband and children in Europe.
On June 19, 2025, four months before the restrictions on her travel and rights were to be lifted, authorities arrested Ms. Ingabire again. She had appeared in court as a witness in the trial of DALFA-Umurinzi members who were arbitrarily detained in October 2021 for taking trainings on peaceful resistance. Later that day, authorities searched Ms. Ingabire’s home, detained her without an arrest warrant, and took her in for interrogation. She has now been detained for more than one year in a prison notorious for its abysmal conditions.
In the last year, as during her previous detention, Ms. Ingabire has suffered multiple violations of her right to a fair trial and to basic rights while in detention. These include restrictions on her access to counsel, meetings with her co-defendants, communication with her family, prescription personal care, and on practicing her Catholic religion, as well as substandard physical detention conditions. In November 2025, the Human Rights Foundation, Freedom Now, and the Lantos Foundation for Human Rights & Justice jointly filed a petition with the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (UNWGAD) on Ingabire’s behalf. A decision is expected soon.