HISTORIC FIRST INTERNATIONAL DEFENSE COUNSEL CONFERENCE CONVENES AT THE HAGUE

The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and Its Legacy

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Common Dreams.org
November 16, 2009

Me. Beth Lyons: 00316- 84403304 (Hague)/ 201-295-3103 (U.S.)/ bethlyons@aol.com
Prof. Peter Erlinder: 1651-271-4616 (U.S.)/peter.erlinder@wmitchell.edu

HISTORIC FIRST INTERNATIONAL DEFENSE COUNSEL CONFERENCE CONVENES AT THE HAGUE: "The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and Its Legacy"

THE HAGUE – 16 Nov. -- For the first time in history, defense lawyers before international criminal courts convened a self-organized conference to discuss, and publicize, the obstacles that prevent accused persons from receiving fair trials, particularly at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). Nearly 20 law schools, legal and human-rights groups from Europe, Africa and N. America were co-sponsors.

The keynote speaker, former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, challenged the legality of UN criminal tribunals that are not authorized by the UN Charter and stated that, “…when history becomes a fiction that we agree upon, the most devastating damage results…the ICTR has only prosecuted the side that lost the war in Rwanda, while the victors have been granted total impunity….”

More than 120 international criminal defense lawyers, scholars, historians, philosophers, human rights activists, and experts in Rwandan culture presented some 40 papers and answered audience questions about fair trial issues, in light of former ICTR Chief Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte having publicly documented the manipulation of ICTR prosecutions by the US and UK to create impunity for their ally, the current government of Rwanda.

“Ad hoc criminal courts should not be created by the UN Security Council....which is inherently a political body,” observed Austrian political philosopher Dr. Hans Koechler. Prof. John Laughland of the Sorbonne noted examples of political interference with UN tribunals for both Rwanda and Yugoslavia. Noted Rwanda scholars Dr. Helmut Strizek of Germany, Prof. Filip Reytnjens of Belgium, Dr. Bernard Lugan of France and ICTR defense counsel provided details of the deepening understanding of the violence that swept Rwanda in 1994.

Although ICTR Prosecutor Del Ponte publicly announced in 2003 that she had evidence to prosecute the current government, the 80 ICTR accused are all supporters of the former Rwandan government. None of the “victors” of the four-year Rwanda civil war have been charged by the ICTr, although both France and Spain have charged more than 40 members of the current Rwandan government for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, including current President Paul Kagame.

The Security Council has announced the de-funding of the Rwanda tribunal. Speakers noted that the UN has a continuing duty to provide on-going protection of detainees’ rights, proper jail conditions, and meaningful procedures for revision of convictions. UN protection of the ICTR archives in a neutral site like other international tribunals is necessary to guarantee an accurate and accessible historical record. The many outstanding unprosecuted Rwandan government crimes, which continue in the eastern Congo today according to the NY Times and UN Expert Reports in late 2008, disqualify Rwanda as a site for any UN-related institutions.
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