Paul Kagame, President of Rwanda
The embattled Ingabire claims violations of her basic human rights
and rights to a fair trial as enshrined in the African Charter under
Articles 1, 3, 5, 7, 10, 11, 28, and 19.
She is seeking an order of the Court to annul all decisions taken
against her by the Rwanda judiciary, including her imprisonment.
The Rwanda government contends that the application is inadmissible
before the Rights Court as it does not satisfy the conditions of
admissibility, among others.
Ingabire, who wanted to challenge President Paul Kagame for 2010
Presidential elections, was condemned to eight years and later 15 years
imprisonment by the High Court and the Supreme Court respectively for
allegedly spreading the ideology of genocide, adding and abetting
terrorism and undermining internal security, among others.
Ingabire had left Rwanda just before the 1994 Rwanda genocide for
the Netherlands but returned to her native home in 2010 to engage in
politics.
The applicant is not expected to be in the Court for the public hearing but is expected to be represented by her counsels.
Another public hearing to precede Ingabire’s, will be of human
rights NGO APDH versus the Ivory Coast government. The Ivorian NGO is
claiming that the West African government violated election procedures
in the last elections. The application will be heard on Thursday.
Another case which will be considered by the African Court Judges
is an application by a former popular Tanzania-based Congolese musician
Nguza Viking (Babu Seya) against the government of Tanzania for life
imprisonment and unfair trial.
The musician’s application will be examined by the Judges in a
closed session and, if it merits, will set a date for its public
hearing.
The 40th Ordinary Session of Judges, which begins on Monday (Feb
29) is expected to examine over 50 applications and four Advisory
Opinions during at its seat in Arusha. The Session will stretch to 18
March.
The Court is composed of eleven judges, nationals of Member States
of the African Union elected in their individual capacity. The Court
meets four times a year in Ordinary Sessions.
According to the President of the Court, Justice Augustino
Ramadhani, Tanzania’s former Chief Justice, up to 31 January, 2016, the
Court had received 74 applications of which 25 have been finalised. Four
applications have been transferred to the African Commission on Human
and Peoples’ Rights.
The Court was established in 2006 but effectively started its work two years later.
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