Deo Mushayidi

Deo Mushayidi is an opposition politician and the leader of the PDP-Immana party. A longtime critic of the government from exile, he was seized in Burundi in March 2010 and forcibly returned to Rwanda, in violation of international law.

In 2011 he was sentenced to life imprisonment after a trial that was political from beginning to end. His real offence was his opposition: he was punished for his opinions, not for any crime. He remains in prison, and reports about his health have raised deep concern.

The Global Campaign for Rwandans' Human Rights demands his immediate and unconditional release, and an end to the practice of seizing critics from exile and returning them to Rwandan prisons.