With water and toilet paper at hand, Erlinder consults with the lawyer on his way back to the Kigali Central Prison, known in Rwanda as �1930�, awaiting his bail verdict

On Oct. 21, Rwandan Chief Prosecutor Martin Ngoga announced that he wants U.S. law professor and U.N. Rwanda Tribunal lead defense counsel, Peter Erlinder, back in court to stand trial for �genocide denial� based on articles written in the U.S. and published on the internet.
Here is the statement made by Prof. Erlinder:

St. Paul, Oct. 21 � Following my release for medical reasons, the well-publicized myth that the Kagame dictatorship had changed, that misled both me and my former client, Madame Ingabire, has been exposed.

After my release, the banning of all serious political opposition, the beheading of the vice-president of the Green Party, Madame Ingabire�s arrest, the assassination of journalists, the attempted assassination of Mr. Kagame�s former chief of staff who defected to South Africa, the assassination of another ICTR defense counsel and Kagame�s �election� with 93 percent of the vote caused the Obama White House to question the state of democracy in Rwanda on Aug. 13:

�(A) series of disturbing events prior to the election includ(es) the suspension of two newspapers, the expulsion of a human rights activist, the barring of two opposition parties from taking part in the election, and the arrest of journalists � (S)tability and prosperity will be difficult to sustain without broad political debate and open political participation � Democracy is about more than holding elections.�

On Aug. 28, Le Monde and the New York Times leaked a 600-page report from the files of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights detailing crimes of Kagame�s troops in the Congo between 1993-2003, including genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. These are the same sort of crimes Chief ICTR Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte�s 2009 English language memoir says were committed by Kagame�s troops in Rwanda in 1994, but her honesty cost her job in 2003 when she refused to follow U.S. orders NOT to prosecute Kagame�s Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) at the ICTR.

These U.N. documents also confirm the evidence I put in the ICTR record that acquitted my client of �conspiracy and planning to commit genocide� in a February 2009 judgment, for which I have been accused of �genocide denial� and �spreading rumors.� Observing that the ICTR judgment runs counter to the victor�s description on the internet of the how the war developed makes me a �genocide denier� in Rwanda. My �crime� has been to say that, if there was no long-term planning and conspiracy, the victor�s story of the �Rwandan genocide� must be re-examined.

Professor Peter Erlinder

But my prosecution has larger implications as well. If U.N. immunity does not apply to any prosecution of defense counsel by the Kagame government, then all defense counsel and defendants have reason to fear that meaningful representation at the U.N. Tribunal will be impossible, especially since the former chief U.N. prosecutor has confirmed that Kagame and the RPF should be in the dock themselves.

Professor Peter Erlinder is the director of the International Humanitarian Law Institute at the William Mitchell College of Law, 875 Summit Av., St. Paul, Minn.

The Chinese government will finance the marine regiment for the Rwanda Defense Forces to improve its capabilities – as part of a broad military cooperation agreement concluded between Beijing and Kigali, RNA reports.

Visiting Defense Minister General James Kabarebe and Chinese counterpart Liang Guanglie finalized a major military cooperation agreement on Friday � concluding a 5-day trip of the Rwandan delegation.

The agreement signed Friday contains a protocol under which China will give Rwanda a grant to construct a floating dock for the marine regiment. No specifics are given in the statement from the Chinese Defense Ministry, but it could be referring to setting up marine capabilities on Lake Kivu and Muhazi.

“The ministers pledged to deepen and widen military cooperation by opening up new areas of cooperation such as research and development, intensifying military visits and exchange programmes,” said the statement.

Recent years have witnessed accelerated development of military ties between the two nations. And China says it attaches great importance to developing ties with the Rwandan military.

The two armies are involved in peacekeeping operations in Sudan.

[ARI-RNA]

Victoire Ingabire’s daughter Raissa trying to secure release of her mother and to raise awareness of the political situation in Rwanda.

This Oct. 21, Jambonews met with Ra�ssa, the eldest daughter of Victoire Ingabire. [Ingabire, who is widely considered the leader of the political opposition in Rwanda, has been jailed in Kigali, where evidence indicates she is being tortured. - ed.]

Tall and slender, the 21-year-old smiled and projected a positive attitude, which surprised us considering her situation.

She told us: �I try to put my feelings aside in order to help my mother as much as I can. I try to remain strong, to care for my little brothers, because I know that this is the best way I can help my mother.�

The last time she spoke with her mother was the day before her arrest. �We spoke normally. We were cool; we laughed. With my mother, we have always been comrades. We talk about everything, and for me it is difficult to imagine her as a politician. So far, it is the last time that I was able to speak with her.�

Last Friday, the Rwandan Embassy in Holland, however, promised Ra�ssa that she would be able to speak with her mother within 48 hours. �I told the ambassador that as far as I am concerned, I should not be considered a politician. If I talk to my mother, I would not ask her about the situation in Rwanda or ask her what any witnesses have stated, but simply, Mama, how are you? All I wish for at this time is just to hear my mother tell me that she is OK.

�The ambassador listened to me attentively. She understood my situation. She seemed to want to help me, to the point that I believed it. But when one closes the door in someone�s face, it means one does not want to help. She started by elaborating on different ways to help us, but as soon as she decided it was time for us to leave, it was all over. Her attitude radically changed, and she left me in the dark regarding my mother�s situation. The ambassador talked to me and listened to me as a mother would, but she reacted as an ambassador.�

Last Monday, we came back, but we were refused entry and the embassy called the police, who escorted us out.

The ambassador talked to me and listened to me as a mother would, but she reacted as an ambassador.

Ever since, Ra�ssa�s days have been full. Speaking to everyone who will listen, from left to right, she informs, she sensitizes, because she believes in the value of word of mouth. �A lot of people are not aware. They are surprised, shocked to hear the situation. The Dutch do not understand why their government is not doing anything, but I think that it is critically important that they ask themselves questions.

�To take action like this is the only way that I can keep myself from feeling powerless.�

When she is asked what she expects from the Rwandan community, she tells us that she wishes, first and foremost , that they become aware of the situation, that they know that her mother had a family, a job, a comfortable life in Holland before she left it all behind to take on the struggle in Rwanda. She fought for the people of Rwanda, and now that she is in prison, more than ever she needs the people of Rwanda.

Ra�ssa adds with emotion: �What I wish is for people to grasp that an innocent woman is in prison, that this woman could be their sister, their mother, their daughter.�

What holds true for her mother, according to Ra�ssa, also holds true for other political prisoners. She wishes that more people would understand their struggle and fight against the injustice that strikes them.

What I wish is for people to grasp that an innocent woman is in prison, that this woman could be their sister, their mother, their daughter.

�Today I speak for my mother, but I know that there are other political prisoners who deserve the support that my mother needs.

�Imminently, what I ask from the Rwandan community in Holland and surrounding countries is to come [to a rally] this Saturday, Oct. 23, at 11:30 a.m., to the central train station of Den Haag, opposite the Foreign Affairs Ministry.

�We want the Dutch government that finances Rwanda to use its influence, use this leverage to pressure Rwanda for a change,� she told us.

�Holland is a country that advocates for human rights, freedom of expression, democracy, and I have trouble understanding their support of a regime that imprisons people who express different opinions from those of the government.�

In the immediate future, there will be a rally this Saturday, Oct. 23, 11:30 am, at the central train station of Den Haag.

�The more people come, the more power we will demonstrate. So please, come in great numbers. This is a long road; every step counts. Saturday is one step among others, and I hope that there will be many more and that we will grow in numbers.�

When we asked her what she would do if she could turn back the clock, she does not hesitates one second: �Even though it is difficult for me, I would let her leave again, because my mother does what she thinks is just. To prevent her from being involved in politics and fighting for a more just Rwanda would be to destroy a part of my mother. Some have mothers who are singers, who sing to them. Others have mothers who are nurses, who provide medical care for them.

�Personally, I have a mother who is a politician � who inspires me. Therefore, if I could turn back the clock, I would encourage her to leave again because politics is part of her.

�Even now, despite the turn of events, I am proud of her because she is fighting for what she always believed in.

�My mother taught me to live my life as I please, to never to let any obstacle block my path, never let any obstacle prevent me from doing what I want. That is the one of the greatest life lessons that I learned from my mother.

�I want her to regain her freedom � the freedom to be able to come and see us but also the freedom to continue her political struggle, the freedom to be able to continue to fight for what she always believed in,� Ra�ssa concludes.

This interview first appeared on Jambonews in French. This is its first publication in English, thanks to the translation services of mesha Monge-Irizarry of the Idriss Stelley Foundation, who can be reached on Facebook or at (415) 595-8251.

[SF Bay View]

Arusha – The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) will hand over case files of all Genocide suspects to competent national courts except for those of the three most wanted fugitives, the court has said.

Tribunal�s spokesman Roland Amoussouga informed Rwanda Prosecutor General Martin Ngoga Thursday that the Tribunal will transfer all other genocide case files to competent jurisdiction including Rwandan courts, �apart from those involving Kabuga Felicien, Mpiranya Protais and Augustin Bizimana�.

Billionaire Felicien Kabuga is alleged to have been the financer of the 1994 Genocide against Tutsis. Controversy still remains as to where the 74-year old is hiding � with the ICTR standing firm that he is in Kenya.

Major Mpiranya Protais headed the notorious presidential guard of ex-president Juvenal Habyarimana. Mpiranya, believed to be living in Zimbabwe with protection from the highest echelons of power, allegedly commanded the troops which killed ex-PM Agathe Uwiringiyimana on April 07 1994. Some information has indicated he may have died of HIV/Aids.

As for Augustin Bizimana, during the Tutsi Genocide, he was Defense Minster in the interim government � controlling the Rwandan Armed Forces (FAR). Except for Kabuga and Mpiranya, whose locations have been guessed, Bizimana remains off the radar completely.

All the three men each have a US$5million bounty on their heads by the US government.

The ICTR spokesman told the Rwanda prosecutor Genaral Ngoga at a joint press conference that some cases could be handed to Rwanda. As for case files of suspects that are yet to be apprehended � will be forwarded to countries of refugee, said Amoussouga.

Ngoga said Rwanda has completed all the necessary judicial and institutional reforms demanded by the ICTR to allow for transfer of suspects and convicts to Rwanda.

In June, the Arusha-based (Tanzania) court handed over another 25 case files to Rwanda, which could be handled by the local courts. The files include those of suspects who have been investigated but not yet indicted by the ICTR, and are believed to be in hiding abroad.

[ARI-RNA]

By Kezio-Musoke-David

Kigali – The Tanzania-based international tribunal hearing the cases of Rwandan genocide suspects urged the central African nation on Friday not to prosecute a U.S. lawyer over a charge of genocide denial. Rwanda’s chief prosecutor Martin Ngoga on Wednesday said American lawyer Peter Erlinder could be summoned within two weeks. Denying the 1994 genocide, during which about 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus were butchered to death, is a crime in Rwanda.

Roland Amoussouga, spokesman for the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), said Rwanda would have to respect Erlinder’s court immunity if the charges related to his work at the tribunal.

“Rwanda has the right to go ahead and prosecute Erlinder. However, they have also committed to respect the functional immunity he has at the tribunal,” Amoussouga told Reuters by telephone from the court’s base in Arusha.

“Prosecution can only go on if it is in relation to his private work and not with work related to the ICTR,” Amoussouga said.

Rwanda arrested Erlinder on charges of genocide denial in May when he flew to the country to defend opposition leader Victoire Ingabire, who had been arrested over accusations of belonging to a terrorist group and promoting genocide ideology.

Erlinder was released on bail on health grounds a month later although the charges remained. Ngoga said at the time the charges related remarks made in earlier statements and publications but did not cite specific comments.

Ngoga said Rwanda would turn to Interpol if Erlinder failed to respond to an eventual summons.

“He is a lawyer and he knows the consequences of jumping bail,” the chief prosecutor told an ICTR news conference on Wednesday.

Under a 2003 law, persons condemned for denying or grossly minimising genocide, attempting to justify genocide or destroy evidence related to it are liable to a minimum of 10 years and a maximum of 20 in prison.

Rwanda last week re-arrested Ingabire who was barred from standing in August’s presidential election which Kagame won by a landslide.

Members of her unregistered United Democratic Forces (UDF) party fear for her health and said she had been visited by a paramedic on Friday. “We call again for a medical parole without any further delay,” UDF said in a statement.

[Reuters]

by IRIN.

London – The recent arrest in Europe of a senior Rwandan militia leader is a welcome step in the fight against impunity in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) but real progress in the protection of civilians depends on the apprehension of commanders on the ground, according to analysts.

Acting on a warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC), French police arrested Callixte Mbarushimana, vice-president of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), on 11 October in Paris. He stands charged of 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity in DRC in 2009.

Almost two million people are internally displaced in eastern DRC’s Kivu provinces, in large part due to the activities of the FDLR.

International and local human rights groups applauded Mbarushimana’s arrest which comes after a long and controversial military campaign to stamp out the Hutu-dominated group that formed in DRC after the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

But they suggest impact on the ground – where a brutal campaign of murder and rape allegedly committed by FDLR soldiers has blighted the lives of civilians – will be minimal.

“It is clear from the latest military operations that the FDLR is weakened, and the arrest of individuals in Europe just weakens them even further,” said Anneke Van Woudenberg, senior researcher at Human Rights Watch.

“But will it stop them attacking civilians? I fear not. I think that we’ve seen in the past that it doesn’t have an immediate impact on behaviour on the ground, because there has been this division between the political movement [in Europe] and the military leadership in the field.”

Mbarushimana took over the FDLR’s political wing following the November 2009 arrests of FDLR President Ignace Murwanashyaka and his deputy Straton Musoni in Germany. They remain in German custody charged, under the principle of universal jurisdiction, with bearing command responsibility for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by FDLR troops eastern DRC.

ICC allegations

The ICC alleges that Mbarushimana planned a series of crimes from his base in France with the intention of creating a humanitarian catastrophe, then extorting concessions of political power from the international community.

“After 16 years of continuous violence, this could be an opportunity to finally demobilize the group,” said ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo in a press release. “Their leaders are gone.”

But not everyone is convinced that FDLR will give up their fight so easily. Fidel Bafilemba, the eastern DRC field researcher for the Enough Project, says the soldiers on the ground care little for international warrants for European leaders. “Why should this [latest] arrest make a difference that the arrest of Ignace Murwanashyaka didn’t make?” he said.

In fact, one of the most shocking incidents in DRC’s recent history occurred long after Murwanashyaka and Musoni were taken into custody – the rape of hundreds of women near Walikale in August, allegedly by FDLR soldiers and their Congolese Mayi-Mayi allies.

Many recent atrocities attributed to the FDLR have come in apparent response to the military campaigns against them by the Rwandan and DRC armies assisted by the UN peace-keeping force in DRC, known as MONUSCO (formerly MONUC).

“What I fear with FDLR is that they have shown when under military pressure they attack Congolese civilians,” said Van Woudenberg. “The recent rapes in Walikale are a prime example of the FDLR and their Mayi Mayi allies punishing Congolese people for their perceived support for these military operations against them.”

Independent DRC analyst Jason Stearns describes the military approach to date as clumsy and says it has worsened the humanitarian catastrophe in the east. He is also unconvinced that targeting Europe-based FDLR will stamp out the rebels.

“We should crack down on the diaspora, but let’s not lose sight of the fact that in the larger scheme of things it’s not going to be by any stretch of the imagination the key factor in dealing with the FDLR,” said Stearns, the former head of the UN Group of Experts on Congo. “There are other much more important issues to deal with than the diaspora.”

He believes that MONUSCO and others should be reaching out to the commanders on the ground who were not involved in the Rwandan genocide – many of whom are tired of life in the forest and the constant military pressure. “There has been relatively little outreach to them,” he said.

“We need to find out who the genocidaires [those who took part in Rwanda's 1994 genocide] are in the FDLR, but we just don’t know. It’s hard to engage in this outreach to commanders if you are operating with this lack of information.”

Stearns proposes third country exile for FDLR members found not to be involved in violations of international law and who do not want to return to Rwanda.

“Powerful signal”

International Crisis Group’s central Africa senior analyst, Guillaume Lacaille, agrees that military offensives alone will not end the violence and that FDLR military leaders in the field should be given the opportunity to relocate, but within the DRC.

“Those who accept to leave the FDLR could be relocated in a western province of the Congo in exchange for disarmament, rather than accept immediate repatriation to Rwanda,” he said.

Lacaille, however, insists the arrest of Mbarushimana and the others is also an important part of the process of bringing peace to eastern DRC.

“It sends a powerful signal that directing from Europe a criminal group operating in Congo will have serious consequences,” he said. “In the past, leaders of armed groups were led to believe that they could operate safely from comfortable Western capitals. The ICC and the governments of Germany and France demonstrated clearly that it is not possible any more.”

Enough’s Bafilemba also sees the new ICC case as a positive step towards ending impunity in DRC, but expects more from the court. That means warrants for crimes committed by all sides in the conflict including the national army which this week came under pressure from Margot Wallstrom, the UN envoy on sexual violence in conflict, who accused its soldiers of murdering and raping villagers in Walikale.

Van Woudenberg, meanwhile, is calling on the Rwandan government to do its part in ending the violence.

“As long as the political space in Rwanda is not opened up to the Hutu, the problem of the FDLR will continue,” she said. The lasting solution to this problem of Hutu and their political space is Rwanda and Rwanda will need to open this political space.”

Rwandan President Paul Kagame responded to this oft-voiced view in his 6 October swearing-in speech that followed his 93 percent landslide victory in an August election:

“�That there is no political space � what do you mean? The political space is well and fully occupied by the people of this country. And if the people of this country has spoken in such numbers and freely, who are you to question anything they have said? Where do you come from? From Mars?“

Kigali -� Rwandan rebel leader Callixte Mbarushimana (Pictured), a war crimes suspect for crimes committed by FDLR� rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), made his first appearance in a French court on Wednesday.

French police arrested Mbarushimana, the Executive Secretary of the FDLR earlier this month in Paris following a secret arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Mbarushimana, 47, denies any involvement in a list of charges including massive sexual crimes committed in the DRC� where over 15,000 cases of sexual violence were reported in 2009 alone. As late as August 2010, the FDLR was involved in raping some 500 women, men, boys and babies in DRC�s North Kivu province.

Philippe Greciano, Mbarushimana�s lawyer, says Mbarushimana must be set free by the French court as a political refugee in France.

�France must release him because he is a political refugee on French soil but also because he brings all the guarantees of French representation. He has a house, he has work, he has a family. He�s never had a problem with the French or international justice. All the affairs against him didn�t lead to anything and that proves that this is a person who needs to be set free, having specified that he can always be present in court when convened.�

Callixte Mbarushimana is also wanted by Rwanda over Genocide but his case has dragged on for years without progress. He has been arrested previously but later released – prompting furry from Rwanda. He has been living in Paris as the leader-in-exile of the Rwandan rebel group, the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR).

Mbarushimana is the fifth suspect in the custody of the International Criminal Court or ICC, his arrest was the result of almost two years of inquiries conducted by France, Germany, the DRC, Rwanda and the ICC.

[ARI-RNA]

THE POLITICALLY MOTIVATED DETENTION OF VICTOIRE INGABIRE STILL GOING ON.

KIGALI 21st �OCTOBER 2010 – TODAY IS HER 7th DAY IN JAIL.

The confrontation with the state-prepared key witness took place in GASABO COURT HOUSE� between 14:30 and 18:00. From contradictions to contradictions, the key witness, Major Vital UWUMUREMYI, is pleading guilty, begging for mercy and forgiveness and volunteering all the information used by the Prosecutor to keep Ms. Victoire INGABIRE in jail.

The witness revealed that he has been using many� identities and passports but has been continuously� living in Rwanda since early 2009. The police information that he was arrested alongside the DRC common border with documents and evidence involving Ms. Victoire INGABIRE in a terrorist ploy is just fake. In normal circumstances, a person with multiple identities is not reliable in Rwandan courts.� How can a government rely on only one witness with questionable credibility?

The article 59 of the code of criminal procedure stipulates : �Persons against whom the prosecution has evidence to suspect that they were involved in the commission of an offence cannot be heard as witnesses�. (LAW N� 13/2004 OF 17/5/2004 RELATING TO THE CODE OF CRIMINAL PROCEDURE, O.G SPECIAL N� OF 30/07/2004).

There is no clear information on the bail hearing despite the fact that the lawyer submitted a formal request� since the arrest.

This is clearly a politically motivated trial and there will be no relief unless serious pressure is maintained on General Paul KAGAME. He seems to be the only person to decide in this case. We remind that since the previously granted bail in April 2010, the opposition leader has never been a flight risk nor a threat to the community. We call again for a medical parole without any further delay.

FDU-INKINGI

KIGALI.

ARUSHA, Tanzania � Rwanda’s top prosecutor wants an American professor to appear in a Rwandan court on charges of genocide denial.

Martin Ngoga says Peter Erlinder will be charged with denying Rwanda’s genocide. Erlinder, a law professor at the William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul, Minnesota and defence lawyer at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), was arrested in May in Kigali where he was planning to defend opposition leader Ms. Victoire Ingabire, chair of the opposition party FDU-Inkingi. He was granted bail in June on humanitarian grounds.
Ms Victoire Ingabire is now in jail in Kigali and is said to be in worrying health conditions.

Ngoga made his remarks in Arusha, Tanzania, where the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) is based.