Rwanda seeks life sentence for opposition leader
Apr 25, 2012, 4:24 PM
KIGALI, Rwanda (AP) – Rwandan prosecutors say they are seeking a life sentence for a political opposition leader who faces charges of threatening state security, genocide denial and promoting ethnic division.
Prosecutors sought the sentence Wednesday. Victoire Ingabire was not present, after announcing last week she is boycotting the court because she says the charges are politically motivated. She has pleaded not guilty.
Her lawyer says they will appeal the sentences after the verdict, expected June 29.
The case against Ingabire, the head of the opposition party FDU-Inkingi, has highlighted Rwanda’s struggle to move beyond the 1994 genocide, when extremist Hutus killed more than 500,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus.
Her trial, along with that of her four co-accused, began in September.
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