Charles Ntakirutinka

Charles Ntakirutinka is a former Transportation Minister in the post-genocide Rwandan government, who was later imprisoned on charges of creating civil disorder as well as planning assassinations. Amnesty International named him a prisoner of conscience and a 2011 "priority case".

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

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.

He appealed the ten year sentence, all the way to the Supreme Court of Rwanda. On 17 February 2006, Ntakirutinka's appeal was rejected by the Supreme Court. The Court also sanctioned new charges against the accused, including (a) the possession of a gun, (b) selling property in order to flee the country and (c) linking up with "remnant enemy" government forces operating in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

He was released on 1 March 2012 after serving his full ten-year sentence.