Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza is an opposition politician in Rwanda and someone who previously spent eight years in prison for criticising the country’s history of genocide until she was pardoned in 2018.
She tells BBC Radio 4’s World at One programme she is happy that two of the three judges found that Rwanda was not a “safe country”, as she referenced a group of Congolese refugees living at the Kiziba Refugee Camp who were shot dead by police for protesting against their living conditions.
“Rwanda is not a freedom country,” she says. “Anyone who challenges the government’s policy and narrative is persecuted.”
In response, Yolande Makolo, spokesperson for the government of Rwanda, says demonstrations and violence at Kiziba refugee camp in 2018 was an “isolated” incident and that lessons had been learned to avoid repetition.
She says: “Rwanda has a well-established track record of providing safety, security, and opportunity for refugees.”