Victoire Ingabire

Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza (born 3 October 1968) is the chairperson of the Unified Democratic Forces (UDF), a coalition of Rwandan exile opposition groups with a large base of active members in Rwanda, Europe, United States of America and in Canada. She was a party candidate for Rwanda's August 2010 elections, but was ultimately arrested and sentenced to prison. A Sakharov Prize nominee, she is currently serving a 15-year prison sentence in Kigali Central Prison on charges of terrorism and threatening national security.

Married and a mother of three, she trained in commercial law and accounting and graduated in business economics and corporate management in the Netherlands. Umuhoza worked as an official of an international accounting firm based in the Netherlands, where she was in charge of its accounting departments in 25 branches in Europe, Asia and Africa.

In April 2009, she resigned from her function to dedicate herself to a political career and to prepare her return to her homeland and, as the head of her political party, to contribute to rebuilding of her country. In January 2010, Umuhoza returned to her country, after 16 years in exile, as the main leader of the Rwandan political opposition.

Since 1997, Umuhoza has been involved in the struggle of the Rwandan political opposition in exile. Umuhoza has been quoted as saying "My objective is to introduce Rwanda to the rule of law and a constitutional state where international democratic standards are respected, where nationalism will at last be the cornerstone for all public institutions." Her political activities are centred around the idea of a state of justice where individuals choose their associations based on their shared political aspirations rather than their ethnic or regional background. She has also been vocal in calling for more women's empowerment in Rwanda.

In 1997, Umuhoza joined the Republican Rally for Democracy in Rwanda. A year later, she became the president of its Netherlands branch and in 2000, she was nominated president of RDR at the international level.

From 2003 to 2006, she occupied the post of president of the Union of Rwandan Democratic Forces UFDR (French: Union des Forces Démocratiques Rwandaises), the main coalition of political opposition parties and personalities in exile, of which RDR (Republican Rally for Democracy in Rwanda) is an active member.

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