Remy Amahirwa Ingabire, the eldest son of Victoire Ingabire, has once again sought the international spotlight. This time, he laughably appeals to US President Donald Trump in an opinion piece titled “An appeal to President Trump: Help my mother’s fight for freedom in Rwanda.”
In his article, Amahirwa attempts to link his mother’s case with Trump’s current efforts to stabilize eastern DRC. He calls on the U.S. president to pressure Rwanda into releasing what he calls “nonviolent prisoners of conscience,” including his mother.
It is natural for a son to defend his mother. But emotions cannot replace truth. Victoire Ingabire is not a prisoner of conscience. She is a convicted criminal.
Criminal Ingabire abused presidential clemency and today faces charges that include plotting to incite public disorder and attempting to overthrow an elected leadership. Evidence revealed that she and her associates sought to mobilize protests through training programs linked to members of her unregistered political party, DALFA-Umurinzi. Testimony further showed collaboration between genocidaires and genocidal ideologues of FDU Inkingi and JAMBO asbl in efforts to destabilize Rwanda.
Her record is consistent. Ingabire has remained an unrepentant promoter of Hutu Power ideology, a dangerous agenda that fueled the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.
Amahirwa must understand that his mother’s case cannot be smuggled into international diplomacy. Criminal matters are settled in courts of law, not in opinion pieces or media campaigns. Attempts to rebrand Ingabire as an activist are misleading and disrespectful to Rwanda’s history.
What Rwanda needs is not media spectacles that glorify extremists but sober recognition of its painful past and vigilance against those who would revive it.
ellenkampire