In 1980, French President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing was criticised for previously accepting diamonds from self-styled emperor Jean-Bedel Bokassa several years earlier.

In order to defend himself, Giscard d'Estaing claimed to have sold the diamonds and donated the proceeds to the Central African Red Cross.

[5] In August 1987 Ruth-Rolland was jailed for three years by a Special Jury for Political Matters for her criticism of Kolingba's corrupt government (officially "incitement").

The election, however, was cancelled by Supreme Court and re-held the following year in 1993, when Ruth-Rolland was able to run under her own Central African Republican Party.

Following the election she resumed her position as deputy of Bakouma and ran a gold prospector's consortium in the eastern regions of the country.

[3][4] In her final years, Ruth-Rolland became ill and was evacuated to Paris, France, where she died, aged 58, in hospital on June 4, 1995.

[10] In her obituary, French newspaper Le Monde wrote that Ruth-Rolland "left her mark on Central African political life by her outspokenness.