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Kigali – Following advice from the United Nations’ Office of Legal Affairs, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) on Tuesday 15th June urged Rwandan authorities to immediately release Prof. Peter Erlinder, a US lawyer accused of supporting “genocide ideology”.

The United Nations’ Office of Legal Affairs “advised the ICTR to formally assert immunity for Professor Erlinder without delay and request his immediate release accordingly.

The ICTR hereby notifies the Rwandan authorities that Professor Erlinder enjoys immunity and requests therefore, his immediate release,” writes the Tanzania-based court.

Here is the ICTR letter to the Rwandan Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation:

International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda
Tribunal Pénal International pour le Rwanda

Arusha International Conférence Centre

P.O.Box 6016, Arusha, Tanzania – B.P. 6016, Arusha, Tanzanie

Tel: 255 27 2564207-11 2564367-72 or 1 212 963 2850 Fax: 255 27 2564000/4373 or 1 212 963 2848/49

Office of the Registrar Cabinet du Greffier

ICTR/RO/06/10/175

NOTE VERBALE

The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) presents its compliments to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of the Government of Rwanda and has the honour to refer to its previous Note Verbales of 31 May 2010, 9 and 10 June 2010 as well as the response from Prosecutor General Martin Ngoga of 2 June 2010 concerning the arrest in Kigali, on 28 May 2010, of Professor Peter Erlinder on allegations of genocide denial. Professor Erlinder is an American lawyer in charge of the defence of Mayor Aloys Ntabakuze before the ICTR.

Following the arrest of Professor Erlinder, the ICTR sought clarification from the Rwandan authorities on the motives of this arrest through its Note Verbale of 31 May 2010. This request drew from the need for the ICTR to ascertain the applicability of any immunity or privilege which Defence Counsel assigned to cases before this Tribunal enjoy in the context of their mandate.

In his response, Prosecutor General Martin Ngoga indicated that Professor Erlinder’s arrest was “not at all related to his assignments at the ICTR”.

Having subsequently learned that Professor Blinder underwent a hearing before the High Court of Gasabo, the Tribunal requested, on 9 June, the Rwandan authorities to provide a formal copy of the charges leveled against Professor Erlinder. On 10 June, the ICTR transmitted another Note Verbale to the same end in compliance with an order of the Appeals Chamber sitting in the case of Mayor Ntabakuze. The Chambers’ decision was attached to that Note Verbale.

In the meantime, the ICTR received the decision on the bail hearing for the Erlinder’s case held on 7 June 2010 before the High Court of Gasabo. The ICTR notes that the Prosecution appearing before the High Court made specific references to words Professor Erlinder spoke and statements he made in his case before the ICTR. Excerpts of those submissions read as follows: “Carl Peter Erlinder denied and minimized the genocide by stating that the soldiers he was defending neither planned nor carried out the genocide. The Accused affirmed that his clients were rather defending national integrity. Prosecution Counsel submitted that the Accused did not end there, as he denied and minimized the genocide in other cases” [...] “While he was Defence Counsel at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, Carl Peter Erlinder submitted that what happened was a massacre of members of the population” [...] “the Accused considers the genocide as a war and, even in the Military I case, he submitted that the killings committed against the Tutsi in 1994 did not constitute genocide. He further states that in Rwanda, this issue is being used as a hurdle against those who want to challenge Kagame during the 2010 elections”.

Although no formal copy of the charges brought against Professor Erlinder has been received yet, the ICTR takes the view that the decision of the High Court constitutes a sufficient basis to identify a link between the nature of the accusations against Professor Erlinder and his mandate with this Tribunal.

The ICTR recalls that Article VI, Section 22, of the Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations, to which the Republic of Rwanda is a party, provides that: “experts (other than officials coming within the scope of Article V) performing missions for the United Nations shall be accorded [...] in particular [...] [i]n respect of words spoken or written and acts done by them in the course of their performance of their mission, immunity from legal process of every kind. The immunity from legal process shall continue to be accorded notwithstanding that the persons concerned are no longer employed in the mission for the United Nations.”

Under the circumstances, the ICTR seized the Office of Legal Affairs in the United Nations Secretariat in New York which is ultimately responsible for providing advice on immunity related matters. In light of the above, the Office of Legal Affairs advised the ICTR to formally assert immunity for Professor Erlinder without delay and request his immediate release accordingly.

The ICTR hereby notifies the Rwandan authorities that Professor Erlinder enjoys immunity and requests therefore, his immediate release.

The ICTR avails itself of this opportunity to renew to the Esteemed Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of the Republic of Rwanda the assurances of its highest consideration.

Arusha,15 June 2010

Copies:

• Honorable Martin Ngoga, Prosecutor General of the Republic of Rwanda
  Office of the Prosecutor-General, Kigali, Republic of Rwanda
• His Excellency, Honorable Tharcisse Karugarama, Minister of Justice Kigali, Republic of Rwanda

Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Coopération
Attention: Her Excellency, Honorable Louise Mushikiwabo
Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation Kigali, Republic of Rwanda

Justice will not be compromised-Mushikiwabo
Kigali – Rwanda will not short-circuit legal procedures to release American lawyer, Prof. Peter Erlinder, despite a request by the United States State Department to release him on compassionate and humanitarian grounds.

Erlinder is charged with denying the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi and minimising it. He further says that the genocide was not planned and executed and prefers putting the word genocide in inverted commas or prefers to call what happened in Rwanda as “terrible massacres”, “horrific events”, “massive civilian killings”, “civilian-civilian massacres”.

Addressing a press conference on Thursday on the arrest of the law professor, Government Spokesperson and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Louise Mushikiwabo, said that the country will have to take Erlinder through the legal procedures to answer charges levelled against him, but at the same time, consider his health concerns.

“The US Government from the beginning knew that this man had been imprisoned, they have been following the fate of Erlinder. “They have been in contact with us, asking us to consider on a compassionate humanitarian basis, given the looks of him being probably mentally ill, that we consider those conditions and release him.”

“Our government’s response is that we are sensitive to medical and health conditions, whether it’s for American citizens or others, but we cannot short-circuit the legal process. So we stand advised by mental health professionals on what needs to happen,” Mushikiwabo said.

She said that a joint medical evaluation is being considered by the country’s doctors and any doctor of Erlinder’s choice who will advise the prosecution accordingly before any decisions concerning his release or continue with the trial.

Mushikiwabo who jointly addressed the Press Conference with the Prosecutor General, Martin Ngoga, said that authorities are well aware of his hospitalisation, but his case of Genocide denial is a serious offence punished by law and cannot be rushed through.

“We as a government, are not doctors to know his mental status. We will wait for those responsible for medical processes to confirm this, but the legal processes will continue.

Genocide denial is a serious crime in this country,” Mushikiwabo said.

She added that the country will not bow to pressure from anyone to free the American whose Genocide denial charges compromises laws of the land, adding that it will be a lesson to whoever undermines the country’s laws and minimises the Genocide.

On his side, Ngoga said that Erlinder could be from a country where the law against Genocide denial is not applicable, but by stepping on Rwandan soil, he presented himself and automatically risked facing the law.

“They have talked a lot about this law which is similar to the law on Holocaust denial, but we say we have this law and we attach much value to it. So it is up to them to go and prove their doubts in court,” Ngoga said.

He accused Erlinder of intentionally travelling to Rwanda after faking a court date for Victoire Ingabire’s appearance in court, and was aware of his impending arrest, but he wanted to test the government. “Now he will have to redeem himself in court”.

Ngoga said that Erlinder’s plans to represent Ingabire and his arrest should not be connected, as his is a stand-alone case.

He noted the American is aware that he breached the country’s laws but said that due processes will be followed for a transparent legal procedure.

Among other things, Ngoga said, Erlinder has been accorded the right to choose his legal team, had been given medical attention when needed, and US Consular officials have been allowed to closely follow the events.

Ngoga said that Erlinder has continued to display theatrics that have received coverage in the press, including a faked suicide attempt and threatening to undress before prosecutors in a mental fit. He further said that doctors will continue to follow his condition, but that will not deter legal procedures. He also revealed that all his rights are being observed during detention, dispelling reports that he is detained in squalid conditions.

[New Times]

The Rwandan Prosecutor General’s office communicated on Friday that, no matter what, Prof. Peter Erlinder must face trial .
During a press conference, the Rwandan Prosecutor General, Martin Ngoga, confirmed that the trial of that Americal lawyer will take place , even if the US authorities requested that he be pardonned . “His trial will serve as a warning to other foreigners, and they are many, who deny the genocide that took place in Rwanda.”

The US lawyer, Peter Erlinder, was arrested last month in Rwanda , on charges of minimizing the Rwandan genocide. He was in the country to defend Victoire Ingabire.
The Rwandan prosecutor accuses him to be the leader of a group of intellectuals that is working hard to rewrite the history of the genocide that took place in Rwanda.

Attempted suicide not a criminal offence – Prosecutor

KIGALI – Kurt Kerns, one of the attorneys on embattled American lawyer Peter Erlinder’s legal team, yesterday apologised for his derogatory comments he made directed towards the Rwandan Police.

Erlinder was arrested last week on charges of Genocide Denial and is expected to be produced in court soon.

In an email he sent and was reproduced in US media outlets, Kerns referred to the country’s police officers as ‘punks’.

An apologetic Kerns yesterday told the media that he would have certainly chosen a better term and regretted any inconvenience his “stupid American comments” would have caused, and promised it would never happen again.

“The other day I read the statements of the Prosecutor General Martin Ngoga, and I just wanted to offer my sincerest and deepest heartfelt apologies, for any kind of words that used that Rwandan people would find offensive,” Kerns said.

He added that he was not trying to justify the use of the word and agrees he would have chosen another word, adding that he is ready to put that behind him and continue working on the case with authorities.

“The Prosecutors have been very professional…I want to offer my heartfelt apologies and I can assure you it won’t happen again,” Kerns added.

Kerns said that his client is steadily recovering and they are hopeful to get the process going. Erlinder tried to end his life on Wednesday by mixing 50 tablets in water and drinking the concoction but the police intervened in time to save him.

“Today we met the Prosecutors and we had a very favourable and professional discussion and I hope we can work together in the interest of justice, to find justice,” Kerns said.

After vehemently rejecting the suicide reports describing them as a total setup, the family of Erlinder has finally admitted that it was indeed true that he attempted to end his life after American consular officials in Rwanda briefed them.

According to Minnesota’s Star Tribune, the family quoted Erlinder as telling a consular official, “I couldn’t spend another night in jail.”

Erlinder’s wife, Masako Usui, also disclosed that he has been on anti-depressants for most of his adult life, but she didn’t think it was a factor in his decision to take an overdose.

[New Times]

Prosecutor General Martin Ngoga addressed a press conference at his offices and voiced his anger against Kurt Kerns, the American lawyer who is in Kigali to defend jailed ICTR lawyer Prof. Peter Erlinder.
Here is what the pro-governement daily New Times writes:

Erlinder’s lawyer riles Prosecution
KIGALI – Prosecutor General, Martin Ngoga has warned an American lawyer, Kurt Kerns, that he risks landing into trouble for making derogatory remarks about the Rwandan Police.

Ngoga made the threats during a press conference he called at his office, yesterday. Kerns is in the country as part of the defence team of Peter Erlinder, another American lawyer charged with Genocide denial.

According to Ngoga, by referring to the country’s Police officers as “young criminals” as reported in the US press, Kerns risks expulsion from the country.

“We are taking issue over remarks that appeared in some media outlets in Minnesota that are attributed to one of the lawyers, Mr Kurt Kerns, who is on Erlinder’s legal team”.
In an email reproduced in the Twin Cities Daily Planet by journalist Mary Turck, Kerns referred to the police who arrested Erlinder as “punks”

“While the arresting officers were punks, his guards are treating him well,” Kerns says in his mail.

“He sent an email that was reproduced, where he referred to our Police officers with an expression that would mean young criminals – punks. If you called an American Police officer a punk, you would certainly face the law,” Ngoga said.

He added that is not only inappropriate, but also offensive for anybody to refer to any country’s police officers carrying out duties authorised by law, as punks or criminals. The Prosecutor General noted that the operation to arrest Erlinder was mounted by the Deputy Commissioner of Criminal Investigations, who is a senior officer, and out of diligence, ensured that an official from the US Embassy was present.

“To say that these officers are punks or young criminals, a remark that would be used to refer to street criminals in the US, and actually has a racist tone, is not appropriate and acceptable.

“In any event, we are ready to cooperate with these lawyers, but if such arrogance continues, some will have to be shown the door,” Ngoga warned.

“A Police officer executing a legal mandate cannot certainly be a punk. We consider the remarks a hitch in the process that is supposed to be professional.”

He, however, said that despite the remarks, prosecution is ready to cooperate with the defence team because the right to defence is guaranteed by the country’s constitution where any suspect has a right to choose his or her attorney.

Ngoga added that the country’s laws allow anybody to come from Kenya or the US to defend people in Rwanda, despite it being practically impossible for Rwandan advocates to practice in these countries.

“We are proud of their presence. It adds value to our laws and institutions for such people to come here and do what they want. But in this case, we find these remarks attributed to him very offensive and unacceptable. If he was really professional, he would go out there and apologise,” Ngoga added.

Kurt Kerns is one of the three lawyers with Prof. Erlinder who have filed last month a lawsuit in US State of Oklahoma against President Kagame for the alleged assassination of the Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana and his Burundian counterpart Cyprien Ntaryamira.
More about the Oklahoma court case:
- Oklahoma Lawsuit Alleges Rwandan President Paul Kagame Triggered Rwanda Genocide
- Lawsuit in Oklahoma (US) district court against Rwandan President Paul Kagame et al. – full document

Kerns, who has been in the country before to gather evidence in his defence for a Genocide fugitive on trial in the US, Lazare Kobagaya, is also reported to have described the nature of the case against Erlinder as “pathetic” and “ridiculously weak”.

Ngoga revealed that Erlinder himself, in the presence of his legal team, acknowledged that he made statements which he is ready to retract and that there is full compliance and ‘no breach’ of procedures during interrogation.

“Some people have been referring to our applicable law as repressive,but that’s their choice… our law is available in many countries.

“The law that punishes Holocaust denial is applicable in many countries. It’s under the same context that we have a law that punishes Genocide denial, which we consider detrimental to our national security; long term and short term,” Ngoga said.

Ngoga insisted that the country is certainly not going to be intimidated or scared away from doing what its law dictates just because some people prefer to call the law repressive.

He said that there shouldn’t be any surprise in Erlinder’s decision and Kerns utterances. He said that the duo is not short of controversy, given their choices of cases, but warned that Rwanda would not tolerate their ‘stubborn behaviour.’

Two Kenyan lawyers, Kennedy Ogetto and Gershom Otachi BW’Omanwa, have also joined Erlinder’s defence team, but not as strangers. Erlinder and the two Kenyans worked on the so-called “Military 1” trial at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR).

The Kenyans were defending Colonel Anatole Nsengiyumva while Erlinder’s client was Major Aloys Ntabakuze. Both the defendants were found guilty of Genocide and war crimes and sentenced to life in prison.

The two parties also met at a conference in Brussels that Erlinder helped organise, a few days before his arrest. The conference brought together well-known revisionists and some Genocide suspects.

One of the suspects, Eugene Rwamucyo, was arrested shortly after the conference by French authorities on Genocide charges. He is awaiting extradition proceedings.

[New Times]

Kigali – Government is demanding that Mr. Kurt Kerns publicly appologise to the Rwanda National Police or the three lawyers to embattled Prof. Peter Erlinder are forced out of the country, Prosecutor General Martin Ngoga said.

Mr. Kerns is currently leading the three-man defense team of detained Erlinder. The others are Kenyan attorneys Kennedy Ogetto and Gershom Otachi – who have acquired accreditation for the defense of the embattled Erlinder.

Prosecutor General Ngoga told an impromptu press conference in the morning that Mr. Kerns was propagating information in the American media that Rwandan Police are “killers” who could even poison the detainee Erlinder.

Mr. Kerns must extend a public apology to the National Police or he could be barred from staying in the country along with his co-attorneys, according to Ngoga, at the press briefing in which no questions were allowed.

In one of the American newspapers, Mr. Kerns said Monday: “It’s a Rwandan jail, there are mosquitoes, not enough blankets, overcrowded conditions.”

He was commenting on the hospitalization of his client Mr. Erlinder. Mr. Kerns also described the case against his client as “ridiculously weak” and “pathetic”, to a US radio station.

Mr. Kurt Kerns is not new to trouble. He is one of the three lawyers with Prof. Erlinder who have filed a suit in US State of Oklahoma against President Kagame for the alleged assassination of the ex- Rwandan and Burundian presidents. Mr. Kerns is also the defense attorney of 83-year-old Genocide suspect Lazare Kobagaya, currently on trail on the state of Kansas.

RNA has not been able to secure comment from the defense team, but the BBC Kinyarwanda service reported Wednesday evening that Kennedy Ogetto – one of the Kenyan defense attorneys was shocked to be informed that Prof. Erlinder had been hospitalized over alleged suicide.

Police had told reporters at around mid-day that Mr. Erlinder had swallowed 50 tablets of three medications including Sertraline for depression, Metoprolol for hypertension and simvastatin for high blood pressure.

Assistant Commissioner of Police Dr. Daniel Nyamaswa, who also heads the newly built high-end Police hospital, said after the suicide attempt, the medication was removed from Erlinder and he will be taking the drugs from the doctors at King Faisal Hospital.

“I do not want to stay in prison anymore, I prefer to die,” said Erlinder to doctors, after making him vomit all the medications and recovering from the traumatic experience, according to ACP Dr. Nyamaswa.

However, attorney Ogetto told the BBC Kinyarwanda service that he had not been able to see their client by 1900hours. Apparently, when he met Erlinder in the morning, he was in normal health, and that doctors had requested he be allowed to rest for another 24hours to recover from the Monday hospitalization.

Meanwhile, the Prosecutor General Ngoga told the press that Erlinder is “retracting everything” that he has said about the Tutsi Genocide. “Part of what Erlinder is saying in our statements now is that he is retracting everything he has said with respect to the Genocide,” said Ngoga.

The country’s top prosecutor revealed that Erlinder had committed to leave the country immediately if he is released, and will never return except with an invitation from the authorities.

Ngoga said all these statements had been made in the presence of his lawyer, but it was not clear which of the three attorneys.

However, attorney Ogetto reportedly expressed shock at information he was getting from media reports such as RNA suggesting Erlinder was giving-in.

By press time, it was not clear if the defense had managed to meet Erlinder.

[ARI-RNA]

by ARI-RNA
Kigali: Detained American Peter Erlinder has immunity from prosecution as a defense lawyer at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda but that applies only when he is in Rwanda on work related to the tribunal, the Arusha (Tanzania) based court said Wednesday.

ICTR spokesman Roland Amoussouga said the court was trying to find out if the Rwandan judicial authorities “intend to use Erlinder’s work at the ICTR as evidence for the prosecution”.

“Erlinder was not in Rwanda for reasons linked to his activities at the ICTR. This doesn’t mean the ICTR will not take an interest in his fate, but rather that the formulation of the ICTR’s reaction will depend on what elements the prosecution decides to use against the accused,” Amoussouga told Agence France Presse (AFP).

He said the court does not claim to have the power or the mandate to obtain immunity for its lawyers in cases that are not directly linked to their work at the ICTR.

“There are two situations where we can claim immunity for our lawyers: when they are on a trip for the ICTR and when the actions they are accused of committing were carried out in the framework of a case they are defending at the ICTR,” he said.

The arrest of Erlinder “and the questions he is being asked do not seem to be linked to his activities at the tribunal”, Amoussouga said.

The court was reacting Wednesday to fierce criticism from its defense attorneys over charges it has failed to take action after the arrest in Rwanda Prof Peter Erlinder for allegedly denying the 1994 Genocide.

Two French lawyers at the tribunal, Arthur Vercken and Anta Guisse, on Tuesday slammed what they said was the ICTR’s silence over Erlinder’s arrest.

“To date it seems the ICTR has not raised the slightest protest against this arrest or demanded the immediate freedom of this lawyer who is on its list and who represents an accused person,” Vercken and Guisse said in a statement.

The two, who are defending a former senior official in Rwanda’s interior ministry, Callixte Kalimanzira, charged with genocide, said they fear Erlinder’s pleas at the ICTR may be used as evidence against him in Rwanda.

“The ICTR acted swiftly, by communicating as early as Monday with the Rwandan authorities,” the court’s spokesman Amoussouga said, emphasizing that the ICTR is “in contact with the relevant Rwandan authorities and with Peter Erlinder’s legal team”.

Meanwhile back here in Rwanda, following the reported suicide of Mr. Erlinder, Prosecutor General Martin Ngoga says the intense interrogations will he halted as he recovers in hospital.

On Tuesday, Prof. Erlinder’s file was transferred from police to prosecution – marking a possible court appearance soon. He was interrogated by investigating prosecutors till late evening and it was decided the process would continue Wednesday, says prosecution.

However, police detectives transporting Erlinder found him unconscious on Wednesday morning as they prepared to transport him to the prosecution office which is located within the same Kacyiru area as the police headquarters.

“Investigations will be halted until doctors rule [Erlinder] fit to continue with the interrogations,” Ngoga told a press conference.

Peter Erlinder, who heads the association of defence lawyers at the ICTR, was arrested on Friday last week in Kigali where he came to defend opposition politician Victoire Ingabire, who is also accused of denying the genocide.

Kigali – US Attorney, C. Peter Erlinder, claiming to be a lawyer representing Victoire Ingabire, entered Rwanda on 27 May 2010, and was arrested by authorities under the country’s genocide ideology laws the following day, on 28 May. Ingabire stands accused of having ties to FDLR, a UN-listed terrorist group that advocates the resumption of the Rwandan genocide that was brought to an end in 1994.

According to Rwanda’s Prosecutor General, Martin Ngoga, “Mr. Erlinder’s unapologetic violation of these laws is self-evident.
He has continually engaged in conspiracy theories and denial surrounding the circumstances of the genocide.
He has promulgated this dangerous and distorted fiction over many years.
Entering Rwanda was a brazen act of provocation, since Erlinder must clearly understand he is in breach of the laws of our country.”

“Mr. Erlinder and Ms. Ingabire claim their intention is to support her opposition candidacy for President,” said Louise Mushikiwabo, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Government Spokesperson. “However, Ms. Ingabire is not registered as a candidate.
Moreover, the provocative actions and statements of she and Mr. Erlinder seem more a naked public relations ploy than a serious effort to engage in an election or a debate on democracy.
This would be upsetting in and of itself, but is particularly disturbing because it has the potential to undercut the legitimacy of Rwanda’s electoral process.”

Rwanda experienced a bloody genocide in the 1990s. Part of the country’s enormously successful recovery has included ensuring that the kinds of propaganda and reckless innuendo that helped to cause the genocide can never be repeated.
Like its counterparts in Europe, who adopted legal principles to ensure no repeat of the holocaust, Rwanda has adopted similar laws.

“Unfortunately, reckless publicity seekers and genocide deniers are using the upcoming election process to further their agendas with little attention to the great harm they are causing.” continued Ms. Mushikiwabo.
“Our goal is not to tamp down opposing viewpoints and freedom of speech. It is to protect the safety, security and integrity of Rwanda’s democratic electoral process.
Publicity seekers and genocide deniers engaged in publicity stunts do nothing to promote Rwandan stability but instead seek to destabilize the country for personal gain.
We believe the actions of Mr. Erlinder could have precisely that effect.
Rather than letting the world witness the progress of Rwanda, they are instead treated to a smokescreen that is not remotely rooted in the reality of Rwanda and the daily lives of its citizens.”

“Mr. Erlinder’s claims that he is here to represent Victoire Ingabire do not stand up to scrutiny”, said Ms. Mushikiwabo.
“He is not registered to practice law in Rwanda, and has made no attempts to do so. It is clear to any observer that he is not here to practice law at all, but to promote himself and his dangerous causes.
In our opinion, Mr. Erlinder is a conspiracy theorist who seeks to willfully promote his extremist views on Rwandan soil — and we will not permit this.
We understand that human rights activists schooled in the US Bill of Rights may find this objectionable. But for Rwandans — schooled in the tragedy of the 1994 genocide and who long for peace – Mr. Erlinder’s arrest is an act of justice.”

Contacts:
Republic of Rwanda
Louise Mushikiwabo, +250 78830 5218
Office of the Government Spokesperson
lmushikiwabo@gov.rw
www.minaffet.gov.rw

Source: businesswire.

Peter Erlinder: “How I am treated will tell us a lot about the nature of the Rwandan government…”

Professor Peter Erlinder, just like his client Victoire Ingabire, is already having a taste of the “laws fortress” announced by President Kagame in one of his recent speeches.
Here is what the government daily New Times wrote this morning, a few hours before Professor Erlinder got arrested by Police for genocide negation.

Kigali – Peter Erlinder, the American lawyer who is in the country to defend Victoire Ingabire, the embattled leader of the yet-to-be-registered political party, FDU-Inkingi has not yet received accreditation from the relevant authorities, to practice in the country.

Erlinder, who was the lead counsel for Major Aloys Ntabakuze at the International Criminal Tribunal of Rwanda (ICTR), has been expressing his readiness to defend Ingabire in her ongoing case, but authorities say he has processes to follow before expressing his intentions.

Ingabire is facing charges of associating with a terrorist group, propagating the Genocide ideology, revisionism and ethnic division.

A senior lawyer at the Kigali Bar Association, the body that is responsible for accrediting all lawyers before they can practice in the country, has denied having received any application from the American lawyer asking for a go-ahead to practice.

“We have never stopped anyone from practicing in the country, as long as they fulfil the legal requirements–that is reciprocity, where two countries have a mutual arrangement to allow lawyers from either countries to practice,” the lawyer said.

“We also haven’t seen any documents from the bar association, from his country of origin to confirm whether indeed he is a recognised member of a bar association. Once we have these requirements, any one is allowed to practice. We haven’t received anything from Erlinder.”

In a phone interview with The New Times, Erlinder indeed agrees that there are procedures to be observed but could not confirm whether he has been given a green light to defend Ingabire.

“I have undertaken the processes, but at this moment, that is a radical question and I am not ready to speak about it this afternoon. I can talk about it tomorrow,” Erlinder said.

He said that he has written to the Prosecutor General, Martin Ngoga, and the Minister of Justice, Tharcisse Karugarama, informing them of his intentions but the Justice Minister in an interview, said the only communication he received was in form of greetings.

“I saw the letter but it only contained greetings to me. I am not responsible for any accreditations,” Karugarama said.

Ngoga also received a copy of the same letter but he says beyond the letter there other procedures to be followed.

“As far as the procedure to accredit a foreign lawyer to practice or appear in any case in Rwanda, I have no communication to that effect,” Ngoga said.

“Other communications from this lawyer, formal or through the press are short of that requirement.”

In an earlier interview with The New Times, Karugarama said that for Erlinder to be on Ingabire’s defence team, he should first meet the requirements that authorise lawyers to practice in Rwanda.

“There are laws that govern lawyers in Rwanda. It is not a jungle where everyone walks in to practice law. If he meets the conditions, defending someone is his right,” Karugarama said. “I don’t think a Rwandan lawyer can just go to America or any other European Country and start practicing law. I guess they also have laws in place. The fact that he defended Bagosora or any other Genocidaire does not give him passage to practice in Rwanda.”

Prior to travelling to Rwanda, Erlinder and a group of other lawyers of ICTR convened a conference in Brussels, Belgium which attracted several wanted Genocide fugitives, including Eugene Rwamucyo.

Rwamucyo, was arrested by French Police on Wednesday.

Erlinder is also a self-proclaimed genocide denier. A day before the 12th commemoration of the 1994 Genocide, he sent an open letter to Stephen Harper, the Canadian Prime Minister, in which he clearly denied the genocide.

The letter contained statements that deny, minimize, justify the 1994 genocide and also attempted to portray a negative image of the current leadership by denying the role it played in halting the genocide.

He completely denies the fact that genocide took place in Rwanda and prefers to use ambiguous, misleading and negating terminologies such as “terrible massacres”, “horrific events”, “massive civilian killings” and “civilian-civilian massacres”.

Source: New Times.

Related:
Rwanda: “How I am treated will tell us a lot about the nature of the Rwandan government…”, Peter Erlinder

Here is an interesting article written by Ann Garrison and published in Sfbayview

Rwandan Chief Prosecutor Martin Ngoga threatened Rwandan presidential candidate Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza with arrest if she keeps talking to the press and accused the international criminal lawyers at the Second International Criminal Defense Conference in Brussels of genocide denial.

The ad hoc organizing committee of the Second International Criminal Defense Conference being held in Brussels on May 21-23 thanked Rwandan Chief Prosecutor Martin Ngoga and Kigali’s New Times for publicizing their efforts.

This week, as the conference dates approached, The New Times published several articles condemning it and quoting Ngoga saying, “For a few years now, some defense lawyers at the ICTR have badly deviated from their professional duties and turned into activists and advocates of genocide denial.”

Ngoga and The New Times thus drew international attention to the significance of the conference to the ongoing struggle over disputed histories of Rwanda’s 1994 tragedy and related violence in Central Africa, both before and since.

Last week Ngoga warned leading opposition presidential candidate Victoire Ingabire that she might be jailed once again if she continues speaking to the press. The election is scheduled for Aug. 9. Ingabire has not been allowed to register to formally run against Rwandan President Paul Kagame.

The ad hoc conference organizing committee also said that they are defending the right to freedom of speech and thought and expect the conference to be a non-disruptive exchange of ideas that would be subjected to public critique and historical and scientific evaluation, as the ideas exchanged at the November 2009 Hague Conference on the Legacy of the International Criminal Tribunal on Rwanda were.

Cover of the Human Rights Watch publication, “Genocide, War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity: A Digest of the Case Law of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda,” issued in January 2010.

They said that Rwanda Chief Prosecutor Ngoga had mischaracterized the historic Military-1 Trial Judgment of February 2009 in the International Criminal Tribunal on Rwanda, which completely rejects the theory that what the world has come to know as the Rwanda Genocide was the result of a longstanding conspiracy planned well in advance of April 1994, as the Nazi death camps were planned by the Third Reich.

They reaffirmed that the judgment had:

• Acquitted all four defendants of “planning or conspiracy” to commit genocide or other crimes, either before or after April 6, 1994;
• Acquitted the highest ranking officer to be tried at the ICTR, Gen. Gratien Kabiligi, of all charges; and
• Acquitted Col. Bagosora (who is represented by Rafael Constant of Paris, not Professor Erlinder) of all charges that occurred before April 6 and after April 8, 1994.

The committee also said, “Rwandan President Paul Kagame’s regime habitually calls its political opponents ‘criminals’ as has been demonstrated in the arrest and prosecution of Madame Victoire Inagabire and others in the run-up to the August presidential elections,” and “Kagame used the same tactic to virtually eliminate political opposition in the 2003 sham presidential election that formalized his monolithic regime.”

The conference organizing committee rejected the Kagame government’s efforts to make it illegal to question the role of Kagame’s ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front Party (RPF) in crimes that the RPF instead accuses its opponents of.

They said that Kagame and the RPF’s responsibility for the assassinations of the presidents of Burundi and Rwanda is the subject of French and Spanish indictments and of a wrongful death civil case in U.S. federal court and that RPF responsibility for these crimes has been confirmed by former Chief ICTR Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte and others from ICTR Prosecutor’s Office.

Members of the ad hoc organizing committee of this week’s International Criminal Defense Conference in Brussels were Professor Peter Erlinder, Beth Lyons, Ken Ogetto, John Philpot and Andre Tremblay.

Kagame threatens challenger with prison for talking to press

President Kagame’s chief opponent in the Aug. 9 election, Victoire Ingabire, is now facing criminal charges brought against her for challenging Kagame and his ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front Party government. According to Ngoga:

Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza, presidential candidate of Rwanda’s FDU-Inkingi Party, has been warned that she will be arrested again if she continues to speak to the international press. – Photo: FDU-Inkingi Party

“The prosecution is more specifically concerned with the continued posting of declarations and newspaper interviews she has been doing. The case against her is not one of robbery in which restraining physical movement would be enough to contain further damage. It is a case of destructive and divisive ideology whose damage does not require physical proximity of the offender.”

Law Professor Peter Erlinder, the U.S. attorney and lead defense counsel at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, who has been retained to defend Ingabire, said:

“Ngoga’s threats reveal that the real purpose of the criminal charges against Madame Ingabire is to serve notice that no political opposition will be tolerated in Rwanda. And that the 2003 ‘sham elections,’ as reported by EU election monitors and other outside human rights observers, will be repeated in 2010, unless the Rwandan government completely changes its policies to permit a functioning democracy.”

Ingabire is charged with associating with terrorists and violations of the “genocide ideology” statutes creating speech and thought crimes unique to Rwanda, which Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative and even the U.S. State Department have denounced.

Professor Erlinder will appear at Ingabire’s next hearing, on May 24 in Kigali, to insist on her continued release on bail, return of her computers and property, an end to the state’s interference with her presidential campaign and the full disclosure of prosecution evidence and witnesses.

Erlinder has said he intends to argue that Ingabire’s internationally recognized rights to free speech have been violated and that she is being denied due process.

He has also submitted letters to his Minnesota senators and congressional representative and to the U.S. State Department to request protection, stating that he has reason to believe that his own life could be in danger while he is in Rwanda because of leaked memos identifying him as a foreign enemy of the government and target for assassination.

The Human Rights Committee of the EU Parliament has written to Rwanda’s Ambassador to Belgium Gérard Ntwari objecting to Ingabire’s arrest and to ongoing repression of political and civil rights, including the right to free speech.

Ann Garrison is an independent journalist based in San Francisco, a regular contributor to the San Francisco Bay View National Black Newspaper, Global Research and Digital Journal and a news producer forKPFA Radio, Berkeley. This story combines two stories that first appeared on Digital Journal, at http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/292310 and http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/292033.

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