A court in Rwanda Tuesday denied bail to Victoire Ingabire, an opposition leader arrested earlier this month, a statement from the prosecutor’s office said.

“The Gasabo Intermediate Court refused Victoire Ingabire bail on charges that include collaborating with a terrorist organisation,” the statement said.

“In public, Victoire Ingabire masquerades as a politician. But behind the scenes she operates as a terrorist leader and financier,” chief prosecutor Martin Ngoga was quoted as saying.

Ingabire, the leader of the unregistered United Democratic Forces (FDU), was arrested October 14 in Kigali on the basis of information given by a former military officer for “organising a terrorist group”.

According to police, the officer, who was arrested the day before Ingabire on the Rwanda-DR Congo border, said he had received her assistance to “set up a military wing of the FDU”.

“Mr Ngoga said that Ms. Ingabire’s personal safety is assured throughout the judicial process and that she will receive a fair trial,” the statement said. Ngoga thanked countries in the region for their collaboration and urged other countries from which Rwanda had requested information, including Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the United States to cooperate in what he called “this far-reaching terrorist investigation”.

Ingabire, who has appealed the court decision, was first arrested in April on accusations of associating with a terrorist group, denying genocide, promoting genocide ideology and division.

Key among those accusations is her alleged association with the DR Congo-based Hutu rebels Kigali blames for involvement in the genocide.

After her release, she was placed under police investigation and barred from travelling outside the capital Kigali pending trial.

Authorities also barred her attempts to register the FDU and run for the August 9 presidential election which was resoundingly won by President Paul Kagame.

In the Netherlands, the family of Ingabire is worried. Ingabires daughter Raissa (21) : “I fear for her destiny. I know her situation. I know how she’s suffering. Since she has been arrested, I did not talk to her. I cannot write her.”

[ANP/AFP/RNW]