Dutch journalist Koert Lindijer was given airtime on Dutch public radio NOS just after the verdict in the case against Rwandan opposition leader Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza. In that interview october 30th he claimed that the Dutch government
'can be satisfied both because the evidence gathered against her in The Netherlands was used only to build the case of terrorism against her and because the Dutch government is helping to build Rwandan justice.' He added that
'according to western diplomats the process has been reasonably fair, Ingabire had access to her lawyers and she was treated well in prison. These western diplomats do have confidence in the Rwandan justice system.' The next day, october 31st he wrote an article in Dutch newspaper NRC which likely had the same message that the Rwandan justice system had won with a mild sentence. Not one word about intimidation of witnesses, the comments by President Kagame on the case, the way her lawyer Peter Erlinder was treated. The unverifiable claim that 'western diplomats' considered it sofar a reasonably fair process could be just as well spin by Dutch diplomacy or a very free interpretation by a biased journalist.
But that Koert Lindijer has a bias against Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza is not unverifiable. Let's take a closer look.November 28th 2008 he claimed the accusations of Rwandan support for Laurent Nkunda were just Congolese seeking a scapegoat:
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