Charles Ntakirutinka is a former Transportation Minister of the Rwanda

Rwanda

Rwanda or , officially the Republic of Rwanda , is a country in central and eastern Africa with a population of approximately 11.4 million . Rwanda is located a few degrees south of the Equator, and is bordered by Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo...

n government and current detainee. Amnesty International

Amnesty International

Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...

 considers him a prisoner of conscience

Prisoner of conscience

Prisoner of conscience is a term defined in Peter Benenson's 1961 article "The Forgotten Prisoners" often used by the human rights group Amnesty International. It can refer to anyone imprisoned because of their race, religion, or political views...

 and a 2011 "priority case".

PDR-Ubuyanja

In May 2001, Charles Ntakirutinka helped found Le Parti Démocratique de Renouveau (Democratic Party for Renewal, PDR-Ubuyanja) with former President Pasteur Bizimungu

Pasteur Bizimungu

Pasteur Bizimungu was the fifth President of Rwanda from 19 July 1994 until 23 March 2000. He is considered belonging to the Hutu caste/ethnic group and was born in the Gisenyi prefecture of Rwanda. Bizimungu worked within the Hutu MRND regime which ruled Rwanda , including as director general of...

. Bizumungu was promptly placed under house arrest by the government of current president Paul Kagame

Paul Kagame

Paul Kagame is the sixth and current President of the Republic of Rwanda. He rose to prominence as the leader of the Rwandan Patriotic Front , whose victory over the incumbent government in July 1994 effectively ended the Rwandan genocide...

.

Ntakirutinka was arrested in April 2002 along with Bizimungu and six other men on charges of disturbing public order, provoking civil conflict and targeting government authorities for assassination. Following a 2004 trial that Amnesty International describes as "falling well short of international standards of fairness", including witness statements allegedly extracted under torture, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Human Rights Watch

Human Rights Watch

Human Rights Watch is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Its headquarters are in New York City and it has offices in Berlin, Beirut, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo,...

 also criticized the trial as "flawed", and noted Ntakirutinka's continued imprisonment in their 2009 annual report.

On 17 February 2006, Ntakirutinka's appeal was rejected by The Supreme Court

Politics of Rwanda

Politics of Rwanda takes place in a framework of a presidential republic, whereby the President of Rwanda is both head of state and head of government, and of a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two...

.