Nairobi – The American attorney Prof. Peter Erlinder released from Rwandan prison fears for his life claiming that the shooting of former Rwanda envoy to India Gen Kayumba Nyamwasa shows that he is at risk as well.

Professor Peter Erlinder told a press conference Sunday in Nairobi that he fears for his life even while in Kenya following Saturday�s attempted assassination of Rwandan military defector Kayumba Nyamwasa in South Africa, blamed on Rwanda�s intelligence services.
Gen Kayumba is recovering in a Johannesburg clinic with two bullets lodged in his body.

Erlinder, who was arrested in Kigali when he went to represent Rwandan political opposition leader Victoire Ingabire, who is also accused of denying genocide, said he believes he is still alive because he is a white man from a powerful country.

“Imagine if I was not a mzungu. Imagine if I was not from the US. Imagine if I was not a law professor,” he told journalists.

It is known that Rwandan opponents are executed inside or outside Rwanda. For example, Colonel Theoneste Lizinde was murdered in Nairobi, Kenya, in 1996 and Mr. Seth Sendashonga, former Rwandan Interior Minister, was assassinated in Nairobi in 1998.

by Victoire Ingabire.

Call for an International Investigation into the assasination attempt on the Rwandan General Kayumba Nyamwasa.

On 19th June 2010, General Kayumba Nyamwasa, a former Rwandan Army chief of staff and High Commissioner to India, survived a planned assassination attempt in Johannesburg, South Africa. This is not the first time, Rwandan opponents are executed inside or outside Rwanda, and until now the hand behind has never been named. There will be no reconciliation, no stability, and no relief as long as those crimes remain unpunished.

General Kayumba fled Rwanda in February 2010 and since then has been abused and demonised by the ruling party while he is publicly denouncing the dictatorship marred by corruption, intrigues, lack of justice, absence of the rule of law and a one-man rule.

According to eye witnesses the life attack was carried out by a professional hit man who shot him at close range and in a matter of seconds retreated to a waiting car. The General sustained serious injuries. The modus operandi revives the assassinations of other Rwandan opponents inside the country or in exile. All have in common the fall-out with the current regime and curiously they are killed by an invisible hand using unidentified professional gunmen in similar conditions. For example, the murder of Colonel Theoneste Lizinde in Nairobi, Kenya, in 1996 and the assassination of Mr. Seth Sendashonga, former Interior Minister in Nairobi on 16th May 1998 have never been thoroughly investigated.

This brings up a host of questions, a task for the investigators to pursue in coming months. It is the reason why we call upon an independent international inquiry into those extra-territorial executions of Rwandan opponents.
The international community and host governments have the responsibility to protect refugees and asylum seekers. This incident is a nefarious conspiracy for disruption of peace in Rwanda, a country sinking deeply into a political and military crisis.
The lack of political space, the arrest of opposition leaders, lawyers and senior military officers, the use of violence and all kind of intimidation of dissenting voices are obvious signs of a country on the brink of chaos.

Ms. Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza
FDU INKINGI, Chair.

By JASON STRAZIUSO
Associated Press Writer

A U.S. lawyer released from a Rwandan prison on medical grounds credited America’s Secretary of State with his release but said Sunday the U.S. Embassy did not help him secure food or medicine while in prison.

Peter Erlinder, 62, said he had to sleep on a concrete floor without a blanket and without assistance from the embassy after his May 28 arrest in Kigali, Rwanda’s capital. The Minnesota law professor thanked U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton for saying Rwanda shouldn’t arrest lawyers but said embassy officials in Kigali and Nairobi have not helped much.

“My government insisted that I take my medications from my captors rather than bringing me medications directly,” Erlinder told a news conference in Nairobi, his first public comments since his arrest. “It was impossible for them to arrange a doctor whom I would pay so that I wouldn’t have to get my food and my medication from my captors.”

A spokesman in Kigali said the U.S. embassy there offered regular assistance to the imprisoned lawyer.

“Embassy officials visited Erlinder every day and were in a constant touch with his family,” embassy spokesman Edwina Sagitto said. “The Embassy also provided him food every day, and medicine from his doctors in the United States every day.”

Erlinder did not outright say that he feared taking food from Rwandan authorities, but that was the implication. He added that it wasn’t clear to him that “my own embassy was working in my interests.” He did not elaborate.

A Rwandan judge ruled Thursday that Erlinder, a lawyer at the International Criminal Tribunal of Rwanda, should be freed from prison on medical grounds. Erlinder said he would soon go to the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. He did not explain his health problems and declined to comment on his statements in a Rwandan court that he had attempted suicide in prison.

Rwanda’s top prosecutor said after the medical release that he would continue his investigation of Erlinder, who said Sunday he would return to Rwanda to face charges if called by the court to do so. Erlinder has not yet been charged, but Rwandan authorities detained Erlinder on suspicion of what it calls minimizing the country’s genocide.

That fact did not prevent Erlinder from making new statements that could anger the government of Rwanda, which has laws against minimizing the 1994 genocide in which hundreds of thousands of Rwandans, the vast majority of them ethnic Tutsis, were massacred by extremist Hutus over 100 days.

International accounts of the violence say at least 500,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed during Rwanda’s genocide, which began after President Juvenal Habyarimana’s plane was brought down in April 1994.

Erlinder has said there are two sides of the story, and said Sunday that there may be enough evidence to show that more ethnic Hutus died than Tutsis, a statement that could anger the government of President Paul Kagame.

“There is no question that there was a genocide in Rwanda. I’ve never denied it, and the prosecutors, after scouring all of my publications, were not able to find one time that I denied that there was a genocide against Tutsis,” said Erlinder, a professor at William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul.

“What I did say is that the story that this terrible genocide occurred after the assassination of Habyarimana was not something that had been long planned before the assassination, not because I say so but because that was the finding of the ICTR (International Criminal Tribunal of Rwanda),” he said.

Erlinder was in Rwanda to help with the legal defense of opposition leader Victoire Ingabire. Ingabire, a Hutu, wants to run for president in Aug. 9 elections, challenging incumbent President Kagame, a Tutsi. But she was arrested in April and charged with promoting a genocidal ideology. She was freed on bail but her passport was seized and she cannot leave Kigali.

Erlinder said he does not believe the conventional story line of the Rwandan genocide based on documents from the U.S. and U.N. that have recently been made public. He said the U.S. government has “systematically suppressed” evidence of the genocide.

Erlinder also said he can no longer act as an attorney for Ingabire. Choking back tears, he thanked his two Kenyan lawyers for traveling to Rwanda to defend him even though they could have been arrested. He also complained that only one of his lawyers has been given a U.S. visa and said he will not leave Kenya until his other lawyer is also given a visa.

Read more: http://www.kansascity.com/2010/06/20/2030560_us-lawyer-jailed-in-rwanda-us.html#ixzz0rU3H2G3S

http://www.kansascity.com/2010/06/20/2030560_us-lawyer-jailed-in-rwanda-us.html

Thousands of anxious voices are now being raised around the world about the explosive situation in the Rwanda led by General Kagame and his party the Rwandan Patriotic Front.
In an article titled “Deadly Silence: Rwanda’s Never Again Is Once Again?”, a Rwandan genocide survivor writes:

People often say, “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” As a Rwandan Genocide survivor, I would not be alive if not for good people who stood up, advocated for, and protected me, facilitating my ultimate survival amidst the deafening silence of the international community. I was nine-years-old when I found myself caught in a maelstrom of violence that threatened to destroy everything I knew and held dear. And in many ways, all of those things, including family, friends, neighbors, home, and communities were destroyed.

I remember having a group of men wrap me in a blanket and smuggling me to a safe house in a different neighborhood. Petrified, I watched as these men accosted and negotiated with my would-be killers on a daily basis to save my life. I watched in horror and helplessness as my mother and brother were taken from my sister, young cousin and I to be killed. My mother and brother were told they had reached the end of their lives, and were then given tools to dig their own graves. Through the intervention of old friends, strangers, and new allies, my mother and brother’s lives were spared, and our family was reunited.

“With all that is taking place in Rwanda today, especially the present-day eerie similarities to the pre-1994 genocide period, will the international community intervene now?”
Alice Gatebuke.

I cannot imagine how my life would have been different had these individuals not intervened. They placed themselves and their families in danger by advocating for us. In our darkest moments I witnessed the zenith of human compassion. I saw the beauty and potential of the human spirit when good people unite for a good cause. Farmers, street kids, courageous women with children raised their voices against a group of evil doers. Through their acts of solidarity, lives were spared. My faith in humanity was reassured even in the midst of so much violence, death, and destruction. Sadly though, the international community remained silent about what was taking place in my country.

As I watch today the increasingly disturbing downward spiral in my country of birth, I am once again reminded of the international community’s complicity and silence in the destruction of an entire nation. In recent times, when the first woman ever to run for president in my country was attacked by a mob, there was silence. While local newspapers were shut down, their writers exiled, and others incarcerated, I witnessed nothing but shrugs from the international community. When Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International reported on the growing repression and jailing of an increasing number of people based on vague laws applied to political opponents of the ruling regime, I saw nothing but rationalization from the international community.

Recently, Peter Erlinder, an American lawyer and professor who is representing a hopeful presidential candidate, was jailed in Rwanda. His arrest and subsequent charges were based on his work as a defense lawyer at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in Arusha, Tanzania. He stands accused of genocide ideology and negationism, the same crimes of which his client is also accused. As a genocide survivor, I take genocide crimes very seriously and strongly believe that each and every perpetrator of these crimes should be brought to justice and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. I also believe that each accused deserves and must be accorded a fair trial. The right to a fair trial and due process is a highly valued universal principle. Therefore I am perplexed by the silence around the professor’s arrest, and the length of time it took the international community to intervene.

Due to Rwanda’s economic progress, some of which is unfortunately derived from Congolese minerals and “supply side economics,” human rights abuses are mere inconveniences to those strictly focused on economic growth. While Rwanda has become one of the most praised and progressive economies in Africa, the international community has watched it ravage neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo with impunity. An estimated six million Congolese lives have been claimed, and tragically, half of those deaths are children under the age of five.

The Rwandan Genocide was catastrophic. I know… I was there. And I survived. However, it should not be used as a pretext for repressing freedom of others and destroying innocent lives. Although the international community still remains silent in the face of all these grotesque abuses and human rights violations within and outside of Rwanda, the potential positive impact the international community could have on the situation should not be underestimated.

I witnessed first hand the power of good people who cared for a frightened 9 year old girl and her family. Everyday people opened their mouths and raised their voices. My family, especially my mother and brother, was spared because of ordinary people’s courageous acts of generosity. I am eternally grateful to have lived to share my story. With all that is taking place in Rwanda today, especially the present-day eerie similarities to the pre-1994 genocide period, will the international community intervene now? One can only imagine the millions of lives that could be saved.

Alice Gatebuke.
Source: The Huffington Post.
Alice Gatebuke is a Rwandan Genocide and war survivor, Cornell University graduate, and a human rights activist. She can be reached at [email protected].

Fugitive Gen Kayumba Nyamwasa, accused of crimes against humanity

JOHANNESBURG � Former Rwandan army chief Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa was shot outside his South African home on Saturday in what his wife called an assassination attempt, the Sapa news agency reported.

Nyamwasa’s wife Rosette said the former army chief of staff was shot outside the gate of the upmarket complex where they lived in Johannesburg.

“When we got to the gate, a black man with a pistol came to the driver’s window… The window was half open… And he fired a shot,” she told Sapa.

“The driver obstructed the assassin… My husband leaned forward. He was shot in the stomach.”

The former army chief was involved in a scuffle with the shooter after the gunman walked around the car to the passenger seat and apparently tried to fire another shot and the gun jammed.

Nyamwasa’s wife said that she believed Rwandan President Paul Kagame was responsible for the shooting.

“I think it was our government, Kagame our president,” Sapa quoted her as saying.

“He said in parliament that he would follow my husband and shoot him.”

Nyamwasa was taken to the private Morningside Clinic, where he was in stable condition.

“I can confirm that he is a patient,” hospital spokeswoman Natalie Jackson told AFP.

Nyamwasa fled to South Africa after abandoning his post as Rwanda’s envoy to India.

The Rwandan government has accused him, and former army colonel Patrick Karegeya, of masterminding grenade attacks earlier this year in the run-up to presidential elections in August.

[AFP]

The United States welcomed Thursday the decision by the High Court to grant bail to its national Peter Erlinder.
In the Daily Press Briefing of June 17th, the Acting Deputy Department Spokesman, Mark C. Toner, declared:
“We would just like to say we�re pleased with the Rwandan court today � that the Rwandan courts today granted Mr. Erlinder an unconditional release on medical grounds. U.S. Embassy officials were present at the hearing and contacted Mr. Erlinder�s family immediately.”

This release comes following comments from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton over the Erlinder issue on June 14th.

Kigali – The decision to grant bail to Peter Erlinder was made out of concern for his physical and mental health and in no way diminishes the seriousness of the charges against him, Rwanda�s Prosecutor-General Martin Ngoga said after the ruling was handed down by the High Court Thursday.

�Bail on health grounds cannot be mistaken as vindication for Mr. Erlinder � it just proves that the justice system he so freely criticizes was willing to show him compassion with respect to his physical and mental wellbeing.

�This will not deter the prosecution as we finalize the case against Mr. Erlinder. He will soon be called to defend his record of genocide denial that insults the people of Rwanda and inflames those who seek to harm us,” Mr. Ngoga said.

On the other hand, Erlinder some family members said they are struggling over whether Erlinder should continue to fight the charges against him in Rwanda.
“Knowing Peter, he’s a pretty honorable guy, and if he thought that was the right thing to do, he would do it,” Scott Erlinder said. “But before any of that happens, the family would really want to talk to him. We have an awful lot of respect for him, but we also love him.”

Erlinder’s wife Usui said that while she’s happy her husband is returning home, she wants his name cleared. “I hope it’s done with Rwanda, but if it’s not, we should still keep fighting against the charges,” she said. “I’m still in a fighting mood.”

Victoire Ingabire, chair of opposition party FDU-Inkingi

After the release on Thursday by a Rwandan judge of U.S. Law Professor and international criminal defense attorney Peter Erlinder from a Rwandan Prison on medical grounds, her client and presidential candidate Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza, who remains under house arrest, issued this appeal to the international community:

We are very pleased that an innocent person, who has committed himself for the defence of human rights and due process of law at the expense of his own life, is released from the inhumane conditions of a Rwandan jail. This is a result of relentless pressure on the regime. We are impressed by the struggle of his family, ordinary citizens, friends, scholars, colleagues, civil associations, journalists, human rights bodies, congressmen and senators for the work they did around the clock.

We wish to extend our sincere appreciation and gratitude to his family for courageously bearing this ordeal and doing everything possible to bring the matter to the attention of the US Government and the United Nations.
It is an open secret that his arrest was against all norms of judicial process. He cannot be held responsible for his expressed or written views in the defence of his clients. Once again the Rwandan judicial system has clearly demonstrated what the world has failed to believe for a long time namely that there is no rule of law in Rwanda.

The UN and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) have established that the arrest and subsequent detention of Peter Erlinder were in violation of his immunity from legal process at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda where he is a lead defence council. This is raising up again serious questions on the capacity of the current regime to deal with ICTR cases or to provide fair justice to many Rwandan suspects held in different countries.

The arrest of Professor Peter Erlinder, a citizen of the United States whose government is a major ally of the Government of Rwanda and a person whose professional rights and credentials are covered by international conventions, clearly shows how difficult if not impossible for a Rwandan to get justice in Rwanda. This is particularly difficult for any person challenging politically President Paul Kagame. The arrest of my lawyer is also deterrent against anyone who tries to defend my case.

The contradicting declarations of the government, the chief prosecutor and the police during the detention of Peter Erlinder have also highlighted how justice is done in Rwanda: fabrication of proof, intrigue, manipulative tactics and unfairness.

We are appealing to the voices that have stood for Professor Peter Erlinder to continue to be on the side of Rwandans that Peter Erlinder has been standing and fighting for in order to get to the root causes of the Rwandan crisis.

Ms. Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza
FDU�Inkingi, Chair.

Prof. Peter Erlinder

Kigali – American lawyer and accused Tutsi Genocide denier Peter Erlinder was released on bail from detention in Kigali on Thursday for health reasons, though he has yet to be released from hospital.

Erlinder was arrested 20 days ago in Kigali, accused of denying the 1994 Tutsi Genocide. He was denied bail in intermediate court last Monday. He appealed in high court on Monday, and the verdict was pronounced in an hour-long ruling ending around 5 p.m. this Thusday afternoon.

�It is ordered that Professor Carl Peter Erlinder be hereby unconditionally released from detention on health grounds as explained above,� said Judge Johnson Busingye. �It is ordered further that investigations into his case will proceed while he is not in detention.�

The decision overturned the intermediate court ruling to keep Erlinder in detention for 30 days while the prosecution built a case against him.

Erlinder and his lawyers argued on Monday that the lower court ruling didn’t take into account Erlinder’s medical conditions. They presented three doctors’ testimonies, signed by United States secretary of state Hillary Clinton, to back up their claim.

Erlinder himself gave testimony of his three visits to hospital, first for high blood pressure, second for attempted suicide caused by depression, and third for cotton stuck in his ears.

The prosecution argued that Erlinder’s medical records were inconsistent and incredible, and they said Erlinder would tamper with witnesses and evidence should he be released.

The day after the hearing, Erlinder was admitted to hospital a fourth time, for very high blood pressure. According to his lawyer Ken Ogetto, his doctor said he was unfit to attend and the prison guards tending to him decided to keep him in hospital.

On the issue of medical conditions, the judge sided firmly with Erlinder.

�No matter how great the accusations, his physical and mental health must take precedence over the case against him,� he said. �One reason is that it would be unjust to put his life at risk of morbidity or mortality as suggested by his doctors.�

Erlinder can now return to America for medical treatment, though he is ordered to cooperate with the prosecution for the genocide denial case ahead.

It seems the decision is exactly what Erlinder’s lawyers were aiming for.

�I am happy with it. I don’t know about my client, whether he is happy with it, but I imagine he will be,� said Kenyan lawyer Otachi Gershom.

Prosecutor Jean Bosco Mutangana held his head in his hands during the ruling, and he refused to comment.

The date of Erlinder’s actual trial is still uncertain, and his client, presidential hopeful Victoire Ingabire, is unsure of whether and how soon Erlinder can defend her in court.

�I hope that he can go on as my lawyer,� she said. �I hope that soon my case he will also fight in the court and that we can work together�

[ARI-RNA]

Erlinder with his lawyer on his way back to the Kigali Central Prison.

Attorneys Call On California House Members to Support Resolution For Peter Erlinder.

California lawyers and activists are joining others from around the world calling for the release of Minnesota attorney and law professor Peter Erlinder from the central prison in Kigali, Rwanda.
Erlinder was arrested late last month shortly after arriving in Rwanda to join the defense team of Rwandan presidential candidate Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza.
Professor Erlinder is a well known human rights lawyer and professor of law at William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul Minnesota. He has also served as president of the National Lawyers Guild (NLG) and remains active on the organization’s international committee.

NLG chapters in Los Angeles and San Francisco are calling on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, members of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, and other California members of the U.S. House and Senate to publicly support House Resolution 1426 urging the Government of the Republic of Rwanda and President Paul Kagame to immediately release Erlinder from jail and allow him to return to the United States.

“Erlinder’s imprisonment and charges are purely political,” said Carlos Villarreal, Executive Director of the San Francisco Bay Area NLG. “This is an attack on lawyers and the rights of individuals to vigorous representation when they are charged with a crime.”

Support for Erlinder is widespread. Paul Rusesabagina, the man who inspired the film Hotel Rwanda, released a statement on his website saying, “Professor Peter Erlinder was doing his job as a lawyer. In a civil society that is not grounds for arrest. If President Kagame considers Rwanda a democracy, he must release Professor Erlinder immediately.”

Both the U.S. State Department and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda have called on the Rwandan government to release Erlinder. More pressure is needed, however, as Professor Erlinder will remain in prison during the Rwandan Governments “investigation,” which has no mandated deadline for completion.

Professor Erlinder was charged with the crime of “genocide ideology” – essentially a thought crime widely abused by Rwanda to punish opponents of the current government. According to a 2009 Human Rights Watch report: “Largely aimed at the Hutu population, [genocide ideology] offenses permit, among other measures, the government to send away children of any age to rehabilitation centers for up to one year�including for the teasing of classmates�and for parents and teachers to face sentences of 15 to 25 years for the child�s conduct. The government has repeatedly accused the Voice of America, the British Broadcasting Corporation and other media outlets, as well as Human Rights Watch, of promoting genocide ideology; accusations these organizations deny.”

The National Lawyers Guild is taking a stand on behalf of our friend and member Peter Erlinder. We welcome the introduction of House Resolution 1426 and urge our California Congressional Delegation to support the measure and publicly reiterate the State Department’s call for the release of Peter Erlinder.

[The National Lawyers Guild] – June 16.
CONTACT: National Lawyers Guild
Carlos Villarreal 415.377.6961 (San Francisco) or
James Lafferty 323.653.4510 (Los Angeles)