Rwanda: Peter Erlinder file complete – says Police
By RNA Reporter
Monday, 31 May 2010
Kigali: The authorities and lawyers of detained American attorney Peter Erlinder are working on final details of when the case should come to court. But already, the family of the American professor is accusing the Police, RNA reports.
Sarah Erlinder, daughter of the arrested lawyer tells US media that the two attorneys who were allowed to visit her father on Saturday were denied access to him Sunday.
Calling it a troubling development, Sarah Erlinder, also an attorney, said the lawyers were barred from seeing her father a day after they had been granted a visit. Apparently, a Rwandan jail official "yelled" at jail employees who granted attorneys access on Saturday.
It seems that official could not be reached Saturday, Sarah Erlinder said, and could not block the visit. However, she said, the jail official was reachable Sunday -- and not very happy with the earlier visit. The official is not named.
Sarah Erlinder said the attorneys who visited her father -- one American and one Rwandan -- reported that he appeared to be in good health and in good spirits. That was a relief, she said, "because then we could concentrate on the larger issue of getting him out."
It is not clear if access to her father will continue to be blocked, she said.
Prof. Erlinder, 62, was in Rwanda to prepare for the defense of fierce government critic Victoire Ingabire against charges of promoting genocidal ideology and links to a terrorist group. He was arrested by the police Friday at 8:30am from the Laico Hotel.
A member of a lawyers' group calling for his release said Peter Erlinder may get a court date Monday.
Meanwhile, Police Spokesman Superintendent Eric Kayiranga told RNA Monday afternoon that the “file is complete”.
“There is work going on with his lawyers. So don’t worry you will be informed [of the hearing date],” he said.
Prosecution has not been available for comment.
Rwanda: Investigation into Mrs. Ingabire cases could take a year – prosecution
"OVERWHELMING EVIDENCES not ENOUGH"-Augustin Nkusi told BBC Great lakes.
By RNA Reporter
Monday, 31 May 2010
Kigali: The National Prosecution Authority is locked in disagreement with opposition politician Ingabire Victoire over whether investigations into her charge-sheet should continue or the case is brought to court for a hearing. Ingabire has informed prosecution that she will no longer speak to investigators.
On Friday, the embattled head of the yet-to-be registered United Democratic Forces Inkingi party was summoned by prosecuting investigators. Ingabire was told to return on Monday for more interrogation to which she responded but also informed investigators that it would be the last time she is speaking.
“I will respond to any summons but will not say anything,” she told BBC Kinyarwanda service Monday evening.
Ingabire was charged April 22 in the Gasabo Intermediate Court sitting in Kabuga – some 25kilometers outside Kigali on three counts including negating the Tutsi Genocide, promoting ethnic divisionism and links to FDLR rebels.
The government was granted bail a day later with a 30-day period for investigations to continue. Prosecutor General Martin Ngoga said at the time that prosecutors had enough evidence and even demanded that court schedule the start of the hearing as soon as possible.
The following week saw three alleged accomplices to Ingabire brought to court. They were Lt. Col Noël Habiyaremye, Lt. Col Tharcisse Mbiturende and Capt Jean-Marie-Vianney Karuta.
However, with up to 40 days after, Prosecution said Monday that investigations are still ongoing, and Ingabire is furious.
“I will not say anything anymore…it seems to me this is a concerted ploy by government to block me from participating in the elections,” she said, also adding that the arrest of her lawyer Prof. Peter Erlinder was part of the reasons for her latest protest.
For Prosecution spokesmen Augustin Nkusi, investigating prosecutors are still acting within the law. He told the BBC Kinyarwanda service that the law prescribes up to a year for prosecutors to carry out investigations on a criminal offence.
“If she does not speak, the investigating prosecutor will write exactly that…and investigations will continue until there is sufficient evidence,” said Nkusi.
“The evidence is there but insufficient at the moment,” he pointed out.
Mr. Nkusi urged Ingabire to cooperate with investigators for her own interest.
Last week, President Kagame revealed to a Ugandan newspaper that of the ten counts on Ingabire’s charge-sheet, she had admitted to seven of them.
Ingabire accuses the authorities of making up the charges to block her presidential aspirations, and has indicated she could file her candidacy as an independent candidate.
RWANDA: THE ARREST AND ARBITRARY DETENTION OF PROFESSOR PETER ERLINDER IS A SHAME
PRESS RELEASE
THE ARREST AND ARBITRARY DETENTION
OF PROFESSOR PETER ERLINDER IS A SHAME
We are saddened to witness powerlessly the arrest and arbitrary detention of Professor Peter Erlinder, the lead council of Ms. Victoire Ingabire, in Kigali on 28th May 2010. He was arrested by Rwandan authorities while he was working on the case of the Chair of FDU-Inkingi who is accused of genocide ideology and collaboration with a Rwandan terrorist group. He is accused of genocide ideology as well. It is our highest duty to raise the serious concern about the impossibility of fair trial as the cases of Ms. Victoire Ingabire and Professor Peter Erlinder are concerned.
The arrest of the lead defence council of an opposition leader and a presidential candidate deepens the political crisis as the August 2010 presidential elections loom. This happens only a few days after an abusive statement of President Kagame boasting his upper hand on the Rwandan judiciary, and echoing his chief Prosecutor’s public statements that there is overwhelming evidence that Ms. Victoire is guilty. Curiously, they don’t transfer their final charges to a Court of law. “The fact that this disinformation campaign originates at the highest levels of the Rwandan government was confirmed by President Kagame’s lengthy comments to the Monitor on May 23, 2010 in which he personally inserted himself directly in the legal case against the opposition leader, despite the fact that the case been initiated by the Kagame administration’s Chief Prosecutor Ngoga, and which will be heard by courts that are dependent upon the Kagame administration for their appointment and tenure”.
A fair trial is being violated because international lawyers would fear that their motions will lead to indictments being issued against them for ideology of genocide. In the eyes of this controversial Rwandan law on ideology of genocide, the defence or testimony to show the truth about the killings in Rwanda before, during and after the genocide would be taken as a proof of negation of the genocide. Then, the lawyers, experts’ witnesses and factual witnesses would fear the intimidation and threats to be arrested because of their positions to portray different views from Kagame’s regime.
These threats to be arrested raise the concerns of possibility of fair trial since the lawyers and experts would fear to give evidences about the truth expressed by Ms. Victoire Ingabire when she arrived in Rwanda mentioning that the Rwandan nation has to pay homage to all the victims of the tragedy without considering their ethnic backgrounds.
The arrest of Professor Peter Erlinder is not consistent with the freedom of fair trial and juridical representation since it tends to be extended to any lawyer who will come to defend the case.
Considering the whole dimension of this biased legal environment, threats, intimidation and frequent presidential interferences, I have informed the Prosecutor during today’s criminal interrogation that I will recourse, with immediate effect, to my right to remain silent until proper court hearings start.
Done in Kigali, on May 31, 2010
Ms. Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza
FDU-INKINGI, Chair.
Rwanda: Law prof. jailed in Rwanda hospitalized after signs of illness
By Laura Yuen
Minnesota Public Radio
May 31, 2010
Peter Erlinder, a law professor at William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul. Erlinder was recently jailed in Rwanda for allegedly spreading what are considered illegal views on the African country's genocide. (Raoul Benavides, William Mitchell College).
St. Paul, Minn. — Friends and family members of St. Paul law professor Peter Erlinder say he was taken to a hospital in Rwanda Monday after showing signs of illness following a police interrogation.
The medical attention came on Erlinder's fourth day of detention in a Rwandan jail. Last Friday, authorities locked up the well-known activist lawyer for allegedly spreading what are considered illegal views on the African country's genocide.
It's still unclear whether Erlinder will return to jail and face charges.
A fellow American lawyer who is in Rwanda fighting for Erlinder's release said the professor's jail stay appears to be aggravating his health conditions, including high blood pressure. Kurt Kerns said two defense attorneys from Kenya demanded the medical intervention on Erlinder's behalf.
"They're like, 'We're done with this interrogation. He doesn't look good. His blood pressure is high. We want him taken to a local hospital.' The local authorities complied," Kerns said.
Kerns said Erlinder will probably return to jail if and when a doctor approves. He said before Erlinder was whisked away to the hospital, Rwandan police asked Erlinder seven questions. While Kerns said he can't disclose the nature of the inquiry, he called the case against Erlinder, in his words, "pathetic."
"They did give us a glimpse as to what their accusations are, but we walked out with a pretty optimistic view of how ridiculously weak the charges are," Kerns said.
Rwandan authorities kicked Kerns out of the police interrogation because they said Kerns didn't have the proper credentials to represent Erlinder.
Erlinder teaches at St. Paul's William Mitchell College of Law and has been a pointed critic of Rwandan President Paul Kagame. Erlinder is in Rwanda to defend a presidential challenger against charges of promoting genocidal ideology.
Rwanda's genocide in 1994 killed more than 500,000 people, mostly Tutsis and moderate Hutus. The massacres ended when mostly Tutsi rebels led by Kagame defeated the Hutus.
Erlinder's wife, Masako Usui said her husband never denied that the massacre took place. But she said he has taken issue with the government's explanation as to how it came about, and that he thinks there was plenty of blame to go around. Now, some Rwandans have called her husband a "conspiracy terrorist."
"It says they don't care about human rights," Usui said. "They don't care about a bill of rights. So, I'm getting more and more angry."
Usui said Erlinder has high cholesterol and is running out of medication. Some of Erlinder's allies in Rwanda have even warned her that the jailers may try to poison his food.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar said Monday morning that there's no indication Erlinder was jailed for any reason other than representing his client. She said she has expressed her concerns to the U.S. State Department.
"I know their focus is on his fair treatment and that the process moves fairly and quickly, so we're giving every [piece of] information to the highest levels of the embassy," Klobuchar said. "Our hope is that there will be some kind of hearing either today, tomorrow, or Wednesday, and hopefully he can be at least released out of jail."
But Klobuchar said she doesn't know whether Erlinder will be able to come home anytime soon, as he works his way through Rwanda's struggling judicial system.
SOS: The Rwandan police is determined to arrest PS-IMBERAKURI Chairman, Me Bernard Ntaganda
PRESS RELEASE N° 006/P.S.IMB/010
Following the surprised attack led by the Commander of the Police of the City of Kigali accompanied with the Representative of the Police of the District of Nyarugenge on Wednesday May 26, 2010;
Given such a notorious misjudgment by the policemen who tried to enter the permanence of our party on May 26, 2010 allegedly in order to conduct searches without a formal warrant; With reference to a malicious plan aimed at arresting and jailing Me NTAGANDA Bernard, the Chairman of the Social Party IMBERAKURI; The Social Party IMBERAKURI leadership would like to inform the Rwandan population and the international community in general and the IMBERAKURI in particular, the following:
Article 1 :
On May 26, 2010, a huge number of policemen led by the Commander of the police in the City of Kigali accompanied with the Representative of the police of the District of Nyarugenge tried to enter the party’s permanent office to conduct searches without a formal warrant. They alleged that Me NTAGANDA Bernard is no longer the party’s chairman as this was aired on State Radio and published by the Imvaho, a government newspaper, and that Me NTAGANDA Bernard should therefore not be allowed to hold such a press conference. It is important to recall that such an irresponsible act has caused unrest and confrontations with militants of the Social Party IMBERAKURI who had come to participate in a press conference on that day. Shortly following the incident, the situation returned to normal and the party’s press conference continued as scheduled. However, the police continued the siege at the party’s permanent office until 7:00 pm.
Article 2 :
Such a shameful act that violates Rwanda’s constitutional rights was characterized by police meddling into political activities and dishonored the country’s police and the Kigali regime as well. Following such an incident, starting on Friday, May 28, 2010 the Rwandan police are tirelessly engaged in a real man hunt operations against Me NTAGANDA Bernard on the pretext that he might have sequestered journalists who attended the party’s press conference on May 26, 2010 an act that is punishable under the provision 388 of the current Rwanda’s criminal law.
Article 3 :
Such a malicious plan was hatched by the Rwandan Police Criminal Investigation Department (CID) at the Rwandan Police headquarters on Thursday, May 27, 2010 when some journalists were summoned by the police spokesperson, Eric KAYIRANGA, and were forced by the police to sign a letter (
clik to read it) accusing Me NTAGANDA Bernard and his fellow party members, the IMBERAKURI, of having sequestered these journalists. It is important to remind the public that Eric KAYIRANGA, the police spokesperson, had already accused the Social Party IMBERAKURI of the similar crime before coercing these journalists according to the declaration he made in evening of Wednesday May 26, 2010, the day on which our party’s press conference took place, responding to a question by a journalist from City Radio who was wondering why the Rwandan Police continue to meddle into our party’s political activities.
Article 4 :
The Social Party IMBERAKURI leadership urges its fellow members, the IMBERAKURI to completely reject the culture of fear and stand up as one person to valiantly defend ideals of their political party which continues to be hurt in the most abject ways by the Kigali regime and its ruling party, the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF).
Article 5 :
The Social Party IMBERAKURI leadership takes this opportunity to call upon the International community and Rwanda’s donors to impose a diplomatic and economic embargo to the current regime in Kigali as long as it will continue to stifle basic democratic principles and to excel in massive human rights violations. Your assistance will be a clear testimony that you are activists of the truth, the IMBERAKURI!!!
Done at Kigali, 30th May 2010
Maître NTAGANDA Bernard
(Signed)
PS-IMBERAKURI
Founder Chairman and Presidential Candidate.
France to Host 25th Annual Africa-France Summit
By Lisa Bryant
VOA News
Paris, May 29, 210
Former colonial power France is hosting a summit Monday and Tuesday gathering dozens of African leaders in the Riviera city of Nice. On the agenda: peace and security, climate and development and Africa's place on the world stage.
France has invited more than 50 African states to the Nice gathering, the 25th annual Africa-France summit. It is among several events being hosted by France this year to celebrate Africa. African heads of state have also been invited for Bastille Day celebrations July 14 that will feature African and French troops marching down the Champs Elysees in Paris.
This France-Africa summit is particularly significant. Hosted by former colonial power France, it comes as many African countries are marking their 50th anniversaries of independence. Not on the guest list are President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe and President Omar Beshir of Sudan - the target of an international arrest warrant. Several other African leaders are also not expected to attend.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy is co-hosting the summit with his Egyptian counterpart Hosni Mubarak . Mr. Sarkozy promised several years ago to break from past French-African relations, which critics say was marked by cronyism, opacity and French support of undemocratic regimes.
Despite that vow, Alain Antil, head of sub-Saharan Africa programs at the French Institute of International Relations in Paris, says in some ways it is business as usual.
As in the past, Antil says, France's Africa diplomacy is managed by the presidency and a small group of advisors. As in the past, he says, France continues to maintain close ties with African leaders who have blemished records. It maintained a low profile over the outcome of some disputed elections, notably in Guinea and Togo, where the sons of former strongmen were declared the winners.
Antil also notes that while France is a leading aid donor to Africa, it has not always honored the pledges it has made. But, he says, France remains a strong champion of African development.
At the Copenhagen global warming summit last December, Mr. Sarkozy challenged rich nations to come up with billions of dollars to help the continent deal with climate change. The French President urged African nations to fight for their rights. His emotional speech was met with applause.
But overall, Antil says, French-African relations are based on a large dose of pragmatism.
Faced with growing competition from China and the United States, Antil says France is scrambling to diversify its economic interests on the continent - looking beyond francophone Africa to invest in emerging markets like Angola.
Underscoring Africa's economic importance, the French government has invited dozens of French and African businessmen to the summit - which is a first. A separate French-Africa business forum will also be taking place just after the summit, in the French city of Bordeaux.
A group of French and African non-governmental organizations is pushing for another agenda at the summit - one emphasizing questions of democracy and justice.
Groggier Niaudet, heads Africa projects at the French charity Secours Catholique, a leading member of the group.
Niaudet says the Nice summit's agenda fails to address controversial issues like official corruption and tax evasion in Africa - or the fact, he says, that recent years have marked setback for democracy in a number of Africa countries.
Analyst Antil believe French and Africa leaders will at least acknowledge the need to fight against corruption and for development and peace in Africa. But as is the case with many summits, he doubts this one will produce anything tangible.
What is of interest, he says, is that Nice will provide a forum for discussion - with many of the most interesting issues tackled far away from the media spotlight.
With the International Criminal Court, a new age of accountability
By Ban Ki-moon
The Washington Post
Saturday, May 29, 2010
World leaders gathered in Rome 12 years ago to establish the International Criminal Court. Seldom since the founding of the United Nations has such a resounding blow been struck for peace, justice and human rights.
On Monday, nations will come together once again, this time in Kampala, Uganda, for the first formal review of the Rome treaty. It is a chance to not only take stock of our progress but also to build for the future. It is an occasion to strengthen our collective determination that crimes against humanity cannot go unpunished -- the better to deter them in the future.
As U.N. secretary general, I have come to see how effective the ICC can be -- and how far we have come. A decade ago, few would have believed that the court would now be fully operational, investigating and trying perpetrators of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in a broadening geography of countries.
This is a fundamental break with history. The old era of impunity is over. In its place, slowly but surely, we are witnessing the birth of an age of accountability. It began with the special tribunals set up in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia; today, the ICC is the keystone of a growing system of global justice that includes international tribunals, mixed international-national courts and domestic prosecutions.
So far, the ICC has opened five investigations. Two trials are underway; a third is scheduled to begin in July. Four detainees are in custody. Those who thought the court would be little more than a paper tiger have been proved wrong. To the contrary, the ICC casts an increasingly long shadow. Those who would commit crimes against humanity have clearly come to fear it.
And yet, the ICC remains a court of last resort, stepping in only when national courts do not, or cannot, act. In March, Bangladesh became the 111th party to the Rome Statute, while 37 others have signed but not yet ratified it. Some of the world's largest and most powerful countries, however, have not joined.
If the ICC is to have the reach it should, if it is to become an effective deterrent as well as an avenue of justice, it must have universal support. As secretary general of the United Nations, I call on all nations to join the ICC. Those that already have done so must cooperate fully with the court. That includes backing it publicly as well as faithfully executing its orders.
The ICC does not have its own police force. It cannot make arrests. Suspects in three of the court's five proceedings remain free. Not only the ICC but the whole of the international justice system suffers from such disregard, while those who would abuse human rights are emboldened.
Discussion at the review conference in Kampala will include ways to strengthen the court. Among them: a proposal to broaden its scope to include "crimes of aggression," as well as measures to build the willingness and capacity of national courts to investigate and prosecute war crimes.
The ICC does not have its own police force. It cannot make arrests. Suspects in three of the court's five proceedings remain free. Not only the ICC but the whole of the international justice system suffers from such disregard, while those who would abuse human rights are emboldened.
Discussion at the review conference in Kampala will include ways to strengthen the court. Among them: a proposal to broaden its scope to include "crimes of aggression," as well as measures to build the willingness and capacity of national courts to investigate and prosecute war crimes.
Perhaps the most contentious debate will focus on the balance between peace and justice. Frankly, I see no choice between them. In today's conflicts, civilians are too often the chief victims. Women, children and the elderly are at the mercy of armies or militias who rape, maim and kill; who devastate towns, villages, crops, cattle and water sources -- all as a strategy of war. The more shocking the crime, the more effective it is as a weapon.
Any victim would understandably yearn to stop such horrors, even at the cost of granting immunity to those who have wronged them. But this is a truce at gunpoint, one without dignity, justice or hope for a better future. The time has passed when we might talk of peace vs. justice. One cannot exist without the other.
Our challenge is to pursue them both, hand in hand. In this, the International Criminal Court is key. In Kampala, I will do my best to help advance the fight against impunity and usher in the new age of accountability. We must never forget that crimes against humanity are just that -- crimes against us all.
Note:
The writer is secretary general of the United Nations.
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Rwandan police asked to release US attorney
By Tom Odula
Associated Press Writer
May 29, 2010
NAIROBI, Kenya—An international lawyers' group on Saturday called for the immediate release of an American lawyer charged with genocide denial in Rwanda.
Peter Erlinder, who is in Rwanda to help defend an opposition presidential hopeful against charges that include promoting genocidal ideology, was arrested Friday by Rwandan police.
The International Criminal Defense Attorneys Association urged individual lawyers and organizations to demand his immediate release, which they say is politically motivated.
"They are political charges, that's all they are," Alison Turner, a board member of the ICDAA, told The Associated Press from Nairobi, Kenya.
Turner said a lawyer hired by the ICDAA to represent Erlinder was not allowed to see him on Saturday. She that said if convicted, Erlinder could face up to 20 years in prison.
A Rwandan police spokesman said Erlinder "has been publicly saying that there was no genocide in Rwanda," since he arrived in the country earlier this week.
Erlinder's arrest also drew criticism from the U.S. National Lawyers Guild, who said the Rwandan government was trying to hamstring the legal defense of Victoire Ingabire, an opposition leader running against President Paul Kagame in Aug. 9 elections.
Erlinder is the president of an association of defense lawyers at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda that is trying the masterminds of the 1994 genocide. He is also a law professor at William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul, Minnesota. His friends and associates say he has visited Rwanda, a tiny Central African country, several times.
Rwanda's 1994 genocide claimed the lives of more than 500,000 people, mostly Tutsis and moderate Hutus. The massacres ended when mostly Tutsi rebels led by Kagame defeated the mostly Hutu extremist perpetrators.
Kagame has been lauded abroad for social and economic reforms and is expected to win another seven-year term, but human rights groups say his administration has an ironclad hold on power and quashes opposing views.
Ingabire, a Hutu, returned to Rwanda in January to contest elections after 16 years of living abroad. She says she returned to Rwanda because the country needs an open discussion to promote reconciliation.
She was arrested and freed on bail but her passport was seized and she cannot leave Kigali. If convicted, Ingabire, 41, could be sentenced to more than two decades in prison.
Her case has become a test of where Rwanda stands in its effort to move past the genocide -- and how much freedom the government will allow.
The U.S. State Department said in a March report on Rwanda that citizens' rights to change their government are "effectively restricted" and cited limits on freedoms of speech, press and judicial independence.
RPF and Rwanda’s Police Urged to Stop Meddling in PS-Imberakuri Political Activities
By Maitre NTAGANDA Bernard
PS-IMBERAKURI
Founder and Chairman
May 27, 2010
PRESS RELEASE No. 005/P.S. IMB/010
Following the surprised attack led by the Commander of the Police of the City of Kigali in the company with the Representative of the Police of the District of Nyarugenge;
Referring also to the press conference held by one of the leaders of the PS Power; RPF political wing in the person of Mrs. Christine MUKABUNANI on Thursday, May 27, 2010;
The Social Party IMBERAKURI would like to inform the Rwandan population and the international community in general and the IMBERAKURI in particular, the following:
ARTICLE 1:
The Social Party IMBERAKURI condemns the police command, which continues to meddle in political activities in order to undermine the Social Party IMBERAKURI since its inception. The Social Party IMBERAKURI especially condemns the police commander in the City of Kigali with the Representative of the Police of the District of Nyarugenge who, accompanied with a huge number of policemen tried to enter the permanence of our party on May 26, 2010 to conduct warrantless searches. This irresponsible act has caused unrest and confrontations with militants of the Social Party IMBERAKURI who have come to participate in a press conference on that day.
ARTICLE 2:
The Social Party IMBERAKURI leadership continues to urge the Kigali Government led by the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) that the struggles it has itself initiated within the Social Party IMBERAKURI must be resolved peacefully according to the laws instead of using violent means like what happened February 21, 2010 when the Social Party IMBERAKURI was attacked by a gang of criminals with the connivance of the police. The PS IMBERAKURI leadership found that one of the leaders of the PS Power; RPF political wing, Mrs. Christine MUKABUNANI in her press conference on May 27, 2010, stated that she was taking the path of the courts to find a solution to the problems created by RPF in our party. This is a sign of desperation as she does no longer know who to turn to.
ARTICLE 3:
The Social Party IMBERAKURI is very concerned by the new methods adopted by the Kigali Government which consist in splitting the political parties opposed to the RPF into two rival factions to hide its real intentions which are to liquidate its opponents and finally turn and criminalize the rival side for the crime. The population of Rwanda and the international community must not forget so soon that the parties created by the MRND, labeled as POWER parties, have played a great role in liquidation of different politicians and have contributed significantly to the tragedy experienced by the country particularly in 1994.
ARTICLE 4:
The Social Party IMBERAKURI is deeply concerned by the diabolical plan hatched by the Government in Kigali led by the RPF to imprison Me NTAGANDA Bernard, Founder and Chairman of the Party PS- IMBERAKURI. Currently he is being hunted down on the pretext that he would have kidnapped journalists came to attend the press conference on May 26, 2010 as stated by the spokesman of the police, who knowingly omitted to mention that everyone was locked inside the meeting room for safety reasons. The Social Party IMBERAKURI would like to recall that no one has complained to the police for this incident.
Done in Kigali, on May 27, 2010
Maitre NTAGANDA Bernard (Se)
PS-IMBERAKURI
Founder and Chairman
Rwanda: Kagame stands firm, Rights? Yes, but put food on the table first
Sixteen years on from the genocide, Rwanda is thriving and prosperous, beloved of donor nations but its president is accused of stifling dissent.
By Sarah Boseley
The Guardian
28 May 2010
Rwandan president Paul Kagame Photograph: Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty Images.
Paul Kagame sits at the head of a vast polished oval table in his lush presidential compound in Kigali, an apparently fragile figure, rake-thin, his dark suit hanging loose. The wire-framed glasses above jutting cheekbones give him an austerely academic look.
Rwanda's president is a thoughtful man, who listens attentively and speaks slowly with an occasional almost self-deprecatory half-laugh, but the steel in the former general who brought genocide to an end 16 years ago is evident in his words.
"Democracy is good music but you need somebody with ears to listen to that music," he says, leaning across the table. "It doesn't matter how much you talk about democracy or human rights. Tell me about a family who spend the whole night looking at each other and wondering whether they will have something to eat. Are they thinking about anything else? They are just not listening."
We can all agree on the substance of democracy, he says, but the form it takes will be different even between European countries, the US and Japan.
"Your model of democracy, why should it be suitable for me?" he says.
Kagame has enjoyed the admiration of the west for establishing a peaceful, orderly and increasingly prosperous-looking Rwanda since the genocide of 1994. The country is now the darling of donor nations, with Kigali a striking contrast to the noisy, litter-strewn capitals of neighbouring African states.
Kagame's model of development, he unhesitatingly says, is South Korea or Singapore. Plastic bags are banned. Dilapidated houses bear a large red cross, a warning that they must be renovated or face demolition within six months. But to Kagame's irritation, outsiders have begun to question the tight control he exercises over this model African state. In recent months, two independent newspapers have been closed, and two generals have been arrested. Most controversially, Victoire Ingabire, leader of the Hutu opposition United Democratic Forces party (FDU), has been placed under house arrest following her return from the Netherlands.
Kagame, leader of the Tutsi-dominated Rwandan Patriotic Front, is being accused of suppressing dissent and subverting the democratic process ahead of the presidential elections in August. But he argues that criticism from outside is unfair and ill-informed.
"Why should the outside world judge Rwanda, judge Kagame, based on the views of two or three people or papers and not based on the views of Rwandans? If you ask people how they feel about government and the leadership, they give an entirely different view from what outsiders think," he says.
Kagame's view is that the media high council had to act against the newspapers, which were libellous, irresponsible and inciting ethnic violence, and his government had to move against the generals, one of whom was accused of corruption and the other of immorality. Ingabire, he claims, has links to rebel Hutus. The timing of events was coincidental; his government could not delay taking action just because the presidential election was imminent.
"The west has democracy because it has institutions that hold people accountable. What has killed Rwanda and Africa is that people are not held accountable," he says. "So the question is, how do you want us to live? By allowing ministers or generals or mayors to run the show without accountability? Is that the form of democracy you want for us? We are saying no."
Years on from the genocide of the minority dominant Tutsis and moderate Hutus, initiated by Hutu militia and politicians, no one believes that the two groups now live in universal harmony – even though ethnic identity is suppressed with an end to identity cards showing a person's group, and children competing in school exams under a number, not a name.
But Kagame's priority is food on the table. He hopes the next generation will be too busy making money to fight. Change is embraced. Things get done. The agriculture minister, a woman, is driving through potentially unpopular reforms of land use, persuading farmers to concentrate on the crops that grow best in their region against the tradition of subsistence farming.
Landlocked Rwanda is in discussions with its neighbours about lowering tariff barriers and forming an east African union. There are incentives for businesses to start up. And Kagame is rare among African leaders in his condemnation of dependence on foreign aid, which, he says, risks "depriving people of their dignity and not pushing them to work and uplift themselves, because that is what makes it sustainable". He says: "I refuse to belong to the side that would accept to perpetuate that dependency on others".
He puts a shot across the donors' bows. "If it were entirely altruistic, why would the west be more interested in giving aid than in opening up for fair trade?"
Just a couple of miles away, Ingabire sits in state in a half-furnished bungalow. The houses, leafy gardens and wide, paved, streets of the 2020 Vision estate all look the same, but it's impossible to mistake her house. On the pavement facing the high locked gate sits an armed guard on a wooden chair. Another is half-hidden by a hedge, talking on a mobile phone.
Ingabire cannot leave her house. She came back to stand against Kagame in the August election, but cannot get past the first hurdle. In order to register her party she must hold a rally of at least 200 supporters.
She says she has come to champion democracy because Kagame's ruling party has failed to do so. "Sixteen years after the genocide we think it is time to move to the democratic system," she says. "You can't say because of the genocide that people can't be free. I don't agree with this."
It is put to her that most people outside Rwanda think the country has made great progress in the past 16 years. "The problem with Kagame is that he says we have stability and development and we don't need more," she says. "My answer is that the stability we have in Rwanda is stability based on pressure. We have development in the hands of a little group." Outside of the Kigali region, she says, poverty is unchanged.
Kagame insists that there is "concrete evidence" that Ingabire supported and helped finance the Hutu rebels of the Democratic Liberation Front (FDLR) in the Congo.
His foreign minister, the formidable and highly articulate Louise Mushikiwabo, who spent 20 years in the US and is married to an American, thinks Ingabire's arrival is a threat to the hard-won truce between Tutsi and Hutu. She characterises Ingabire's challenge as "very deliberate, controversial ethnic politics, this woman really has a genocidal ideology".
Ingabire threw down the gauntlet on the day of her arrival, maintains Mushikiwabo. She went straight to the genocide memorial museum in Kigali, looked around and questioned why it did not commemorate the deaths of any Hutus who died in the violence. "That in Rwanda is revisionism," she says. "We know that there were Hutus killed in the context of the genocide, but they weren't targeted. The more you blur the lines, the more you think it was a free-for-all. To us it is so clear cut. The dynamics are not understood abroad. It is maybe because things look too normal in this country. But when you allow people to go out into the villages and start that sort of rhetoric, you are really walking into trouble."
The opposition leader rejects the allegations made against her of support and funding for rebel Hutus in the Congo. She admits she went to Kinshasa twice, but not at the times alleged by the government. "They say I was in Kinshasa and met members of the FDLR in March and September 2008. I was not there in March but in February, not in September but October. I can prove it with my passport." She went to ask the Congolese government for support for her political party, she says, just as she has visited many countries looking for backing.
Ingabire does not dispute the genocide of 1994, but her concern is clearly with what she thinks is the airbrushing of violence against Hutus.
"Before the genocide and after the genocide there was killing against the Hutu and against the Tutsis. Now the government of Kagame authorises only to talk about genocide against the Tutsis. They don't accept that we talk about the crime against humanity committed before the genocide. That is the big problem we have. If we need to reconcile the Rwandan people we have to talk also about this killing before and after the genocide."
She claims that the apparent reconciliation of Tutsi and Hutu is only surface deep. "They say don't talk about Hutu or Tutsi, but we know that the problem we had in our country is based on the differences between the two groups. The thing we can do is to take our courage and talk about the problem. You can't say, don't talk about the problem and in time people will forget it. It is not true."
She dismissed the hearings of the traditional gacaca courts, set up all over Rwanda to try cases against thousands of those involved in genocide, alleging that the RPF took control and that people did not dare speak their minds. "It is not a place where the victims meet the killers to talk about what happened." Is it possible that violence could return? "Yes, of course," she says.
Ingabire, whose husband and three children are still in the Netherlands, says she is back in Rwanda to stay. "I still believe that we will participate in the election, but if they go ahead and do everything to stop us, we will still be a political party," she says. "I will stay here. Even if they put me in jail, I will stay here. One day I believe we will achieve what we want."
About 45 minutes' drive from Kigali there is a church where the sun shines through bullet holes in the wooden roof on to thousands of pieces of soiled and rotting clothing on the wooden benches below. They – and the shelves of skulls and arm and leg bones in an underground crypt – are all that remain of some 10,000 massacred Tutsis.
You can still distinguish children's dresses and women's skirts here. Machetes and knives lie on the bloodsoaked altar cloth. A young woman tells you calmly that the weapons were used to rip the unborn baby out of the womb of a Hutu woman who refused to kill her Tutsi husband. As you walk away, shaken, the question of democracy takes on a new relevance. Just 16 years on, is Rwanda ready?
Related Matereials:
Rwanda is not ready for the medicine of democracy, says Kagame
Rwanda: A strong opposition is not my responsibility, says Kagame
Rwanda: A strong opposition is not my responsibility, says Kagame
By RNA Reporters
May 29, 2010
Kigali: For whoever is blaming President Kagame that the country does not have a strong opposition and why there is no democracy as seen from the outside, he says all these are "niceties" that are “contextual", RNA reports. He believes that is not what Rwandans need at the moment.
"Democracy has two sides: substance and form," he tells a British daily The Independent and explains. "Sometimes they are packaged together and you must swallow it as a medicine. We share the substance, meaning the definition, but how that is expressed is contextual."
"Democracy and human rights are niceties and are all important, but tell me, if somebody is wondering if they have anything to eat, they are not listening," he continues. "It's a fact that when somebody has food, when you bring another message, then they listen."
Critics accuse President Kagame of autocracy marked with preventing all forms of opposition. His detractors say the newspapers that have been closed and senior military generals sacked and others exiled, show a country is crisis.
These complaints are dismissed by the President in the interview. He "had nothing to do with" the recent banning of two independent newspapers; the generals dismissed in a military shake-up were guilty of corruption; and he accuses presidential rival Victoire Ingabire, who heads the opposition party United Democratic Forces, of using ethnicity to garner support.
Other opposition candidates, like the Democratic Green Party's Frank Habineza, can register their parties and stand as long as they "abide by the rules". He added: "A strong opposition is not my responsibility."
"Democracy is good music but you need somebody with ears to listen to that music," he says, in a separate interview with another British daily The Guardian.
"It doesn't matter how much you talk about democracy or human rights. Tell me about a family who spend the whole night looking at each other and wondering whether they will have something to eat. Are they thinking about anything else? They are just not listening."
We can all agree on the substance of democracy, he says, but the form it takes will be different even between European countries, the US and Japan.
"Your model of democracy, why should it be suitable for me?" he tells The Guardian.
President Kagame's view is that the Media High Council had to act against UMUVUGIZI and UMUSESO tabloids, which were libellous, irresponsible and inciting ethnic violence, and his government had to move against the generals, one of whom was accused of corruption and the other of immorality. Ingabire, he claims, has links to FDLR rebels. The timing of events was coincidental; his government could not delay taking action just because the presidential election was imminent.
"The west has democracy because it has institutions that hold people accountable. What has killed Rwanda and Africa is that people are not held accountable," he says. "So the question is, how do you want us to live? By allowing ministers or generals or mayors to run the show without accountability? Is that the form of democracy you want for us? We are saying no."
Ingabire Victoire contests all the allegations against her in interviews that are published in the same articles.
She admits to The Guardian that she went to Kinshasa twice, but not at the times alleged by the government. "They say I was in Kinshasa and met members of the FDLR in March and September 2008. I was not there in March but in February, not in September but October. I can prove it with my passport."
She went to ask the Congolese government for support for her political party, she says, just as she has visited many countries looking for backing. Ms Ingabire also dismissed the hearings of the traditional gacaca courts.
For Louise Mushikiwabo, the Foreign Affairs Minister and Government spokesperson, Ms Ingabire's challenge is "very deliberate, controversial ethnic politics, this woman really has a genocidal ideology".
Ingabire threw down the gauntlet on the day of her arrival, maintains Mushikiwabo to The Guardian.
The firry opposition politician went straight to the Genocide memorial center in Kigali on arrival on January 16 from Europe, looked around and questioned why it did not commemorate the deaths of any Hutus who died in the violence.
"That in Rwanda is revisionism," Mushikiwabo says. "We know that there were Hutus killed in the context of the genocide, but they weren't targeted. The more you blur the lines, the more you think it was a free-for-all. To us it is so clear cut. The dynamics are not understood abroad. It is maybe because things look too normal in this country. But when you allow people to go out into the villages and start that sort of rhetoric, you are really walking into trouble."
Back to President Kagame, under fierce attack from the outside for suppressing dissent and subverting the democratic process ahead of the presidential elections in August. But he tells The Guardian that criticism from outside is unfair and ill-informed.
"Why should the outside world judge Rwanda, judge Kagame, based on the views of two or three people or papers and not based on the views of Rwandans? If you ask people how they feel about government and the leadership, they give an entirely different view from what outsiders think," he says.
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Rwanda is not ready for the medicine of democracy, says Kagame
Response to an Open Letter to Canada's Prime Minister from Professor Peter Erlinder
By Alloys Mutabingwa
Government of Rwanda Representative to the ICTR
Arusha, Tanzania
On 7th April of every year, Rwanda and the World commemorate the 1994 genocide that took place in Rwanda. However, in that period, those responsible of the genocide and their supporters continue to impose further suffering on the genocide survivors by denying the genocide.
One day before the 12th commemoration of the genocide, Prof. Peter Erlinder sent an open letter to Hon. Stephen Harper, the Canadian Prime Minister, therein he denies, minimizes, justifies the 1994 genocide and attempts to portray a negative image of the Rwandan President Paul Kagame, snubbing the role he played in halting the genocide and the one he is playing in the national reconstruction and reconciliation process.
In his letter, Peter Erlinder completely denies the fact that genocide took place in Rwanda and prefers to use ambiguous, misleading and distortious terminologies such as “terrible massacres”, “horrific events”, “massive civilian killings”, “civilian-civilian massacres”.
Sixty years after the Holocaust, some people still continue to deny Auschwitz. It is not surprising to see people denying the 1994 genocide today. Erlinder’s terminologies are nothing less than genocide denial, a crime recognized by the UN resolution n? 955 of September 1994 which set up the ICTR, providing for the prosecution of persons responsible for GENOCIDE and other serious violations of international humanitarian law committed on Rwanda’s territory between 1 January 1994 and 31 December 1994. It is awful for a lawyer of his caliber to deny the Tutsi genocide. Evidently by denying genocide, one prepares the next.
When the period of commemoration of the 1994 genocide approaches, Rwanda is assailed by harsh and baseless criticisms by those who want to downplay and to undermine Rwanda’s determination to overcome challenges inherited from the genocide. After the 1994 genocide, the Rwandan leadership has embarked on good governance and a reconciliation process. The results can be manifested by the following records:
- Canada has included Rwanda among her 25 development partners.
- African National Achievement award given by the Africa-America Institute. This was given in recognition of the perseverance of Rwandans after the genocide.
- Rwanda is increasingly becoming a research centre for post-conflict policies. A good number of African countries getting outof conflicts are continuously visiting Rwanda to acquire the experience. Delegations from countries such as South Africa and Sudan visited Rwanda in this regard.
- According to the World Bank, in Africa, Rwanda is an example in broadening access to education.
- Rwanda is one of the leading African models on anti-corruption mechanisms.
- President Paul Kagame received in 2003 the Global Leadership Award by the Young President's Organization (YPO). The award was in recognition of his role as leader in Rwanda's transition to peace and democracy. The UNDP, IMF and NEPAD (through the African Peer Review Mechanism) have also recognized the positive move of Rwanda in the pace of good governance.
These achievements have frustrated people who played a role in the genocide and their allies. The latter are involved in propaganda that aims at shifting attention from the 1994 genocide. They belong to a class of people who aim at undermining the ICTR mission which is supported by Canada.
Erlinder depicts a negative image of Rwanda and goes on to deny and at the same time rationalize the genocide. It is worth observing that a day prior to the 12th commemoration of the 1994 genocide, he took the opportunity, together with those who either deny the genocide or support it, to mourn the death of Habyarimana (whose regime planned and executed the genocide), in a move to downplay the remembrance of over one million victims of the genocide.
In his letter on the 6th April 2006, Erlinder no longer appeared as an ICTR Lead Defence Counsel for Alloys Ntabakuze, but instead as the ultimate legitimate mouthpiece of various individuals and organizations, who distort facts about the 1994 genocide. It is then understandable why most of Erlinder’s rhetoric is based on sources known for their connivance with the former regimes or for their poor ethical records. Among the so-called witnesses are Filip Reyntjens, and Ruzibiza. Records show that Reyntjens was an Advisor to Habyarimana and an Architect of the 1978 Rwandan constitution that institutionalized the “Mouvement Révolutionnaire National pour le Développment” (MRND) as a single party. After the collapse of the genocidal regime, Reyntjens left Rwanda but wrote harsh books and articles predicting imminent collapse of the current regime which is growing stronger instead. Reyntjens gave up his testimonies before the ICTR after failing to use the court as a weapon in his on-going fight against RPF/A and the current Government of Unity and Reconcilliation.
Reytjens continued to advise ’’ABATABAZI’’ (interim government which supervised the genocide) in DRC. He visited them in 1995 to conspire on how they could plan to overthrow the new transitional government of Rwanda. Bagosora Theoneste, the master-planner of the genocide, Kambanda Jean, the prime minister of the interim government and General Kabiligi were at that time his host.
As for Ruzibiza, it is in the ICTR records that this person served as an RPA soldier. He deserted the RPA in 2001 following his implication in an embezzlement case. Numerous documents signed by Ruzibiza prove ways in which he had used soldier’s salaries to make business with his brother known as Joseph Rurangwa. Today, due to his earlier job as an the RPA soldier, Ruzibiza is being manipulated by some western powers who are still trying to hide their responsibility in the 1994 genocide. Ruzibiza was only a nurse in the army and could not have had any access to information on what was planned at the strategic level as he claims. The relevance and importance of Ruzibiza’s testimony is much more in support of the destructive propaganda that Peter Erlinder, Ryjents and others have as their main mission on Rwanda.
Though no investigations have been conducted to establish the truth over the death of Habyarimana, Erlinder, though he is a Professor of Law, intentionally quotes the unauthenticated sources to state that RPF/A was responsible for the shooting down of Habyarimana’s plane. The motive behind is to deny the preparation of the genocide, and explain the genocide as a mere result of popular furor caused by the death of their president. Denying preparation for genocide is to deny genocide itself. It is important to mention that Canadian Gen. Dallaire who was heading UN forces in Rwanda had, prior to the shooting of Habyarimana’s plane, written repetitively to UN headquarters about signs of preparation of mass killings against Tutsis.
Erlinder completely neglects the fact that UN and various international organizations confirmed the 1994 genocide and the role of what he called RGF (Rwanda Government Forces) in the preparation of the genocide. Since the denial of the genocide is the last stage of the crime of the genocide, it’s high time that civilized countries that recognize the genocide committed against Tutsi in Rwanda also adopt laws aimed at punishing those who deny or try to rationalize it.
The conduct of Prof. Erlinder is far beyond his mandate as defence Counsel, undermines his status as a Professor and above all an Officer of the Court. He deliberately ignores matters that have been factually and consistently proven in the same court he appears (ICTR).
However, looking at the record of misconduct and unprofessionalism on the part of some defence lawyers at the ICTR ranging from corruption and embezzlement to where they turn into mouth-pieces of Genocide both as a fact and ideology, Prof.Erlinder’s letter is only disturbing but not surprising.
As a defence counsel, he is paid to defend his client as against charges preferred against him by the Prosecutor. Never was he hired to conduct a collective defence in favour of all defendants. Neither is he paid to reverse historical facts.
But what remains clear is that Prof. Erlinder is singing the song the Architects and supporters of Genocide would want to hear. This is the strategy many defence lawyers have used at the ICTR to secure their employment and thus their living even where their legal professionalism and ethics remain in coma.
Source: Orwell Today
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Open Letter to Prime Minister Harper Regarding State Visit of Current President of Rwanda
By Peter Erlinder
April 6, 2006
Dear Mr. Prime Minister,
I am writing from the United Nations Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) in Arusha, Tanzania on this, the 12th Anniversary of the assassination of President Habyarimana of Rwanda, which preceded the terrible massacres that occurred after the April 6 assassination. I have learned that your Government has agreed to host a state visit by the current President of Rwanda, Mr. Paul Kagame. To prevent future embarrassment to you and your Government, and to comply with the ethical principles to which I am bound as an Officer of the Court of the ICTR, I am obligated to bring recent developments at the ICTR to your attention.
By way of background, please note that the March/April 2004 issue of the UK Economist reported on the 10th Anniversary of the horrific events in Rwanda by noting that the Kagame Regime is the most repressive military dictatorship in Africa. At that time, the identity of those who carried out the “assassination by missile” of former President Habyarimana by shooting down the presidential plane on April 6, 1994 (which all agree touched off the massive civilian killings in April-July 1994) was not known.
However, this circumstance changed during the past month at the ICTR which saw multiple witnesses, including: an “Africanist” Belgian Catholic Priest and Historian, who lived in Rwanda for 18 years; former RPF/RPA officers who were either present when the missiles were fired, or present at RPF/RPA Headquarters during 1993-94; as well as, numerous never-before-public UN documents which confirm the following:
1. The RPF/Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA) had a 3-4/1 military-force advantage, which was known to then-General Kagame at least as of February 1993 when the RPF/RPA broke the Arusha ceasefire and nearly captured the capital, that the RPF/RPA had the military power to take power in Rwanda at will. It was the 1,000,000-plus displaced, brutalized refugees who became an ungovernable force that later engaged in civilian-civilian massacres.
2. Between February 1993 and April 1994, while pretending to negotiate a power-sharing agreement set out in the Arusha Accords, Gen. Kagame openly declared to RPA troops that they should prepare for war and he also threatened war repeatedly when speaking with UN and international delegations in early 1994, as reflected in contemporary UN documents.
3. During this same period, hundreds of tons of weaponry and ammunition were illegally brought into Rwanda in preparation for the final assault to seize power and stored in numerous “weapons caches” around the country.
4. By March 1994, UN documents show that the Rwandan Government Forces (RGF) had been decimated by the four-year war of invasion by elements of the Ugandan military, supported by the Ugandan government and military, and lacked the military capacity to fight an invading army AND use military force to stop civilian massacres by other civilians.
5. The former U.S. Ambassador to Rwanda, Hon. Robert Flaten, testified in June 2005 that he personally warned Gen. Kagame and Pres. Habyarimana that if either resumed war by breaking the Arusha Accords cease fire, they would be responsible for thousands of civilian casualties from retaliatory killings that U.S. State Department documents predicted should the war resume...similar to killings that swept Burundi/Rwanda in 1988.
6. On March 9-10, 2006 and again on April 3-6, 2006 the President of the ICTR heard testimony, with supporting U.N. and other documents, that Gen. Kagame ordered the assassination of President Habyarimana to de-stabilize his enemy, and that he ordered the final assault within minutes after learning of the successful missile attack....long BEFORE any retaliatory, civilian killings had occurred anywhere in Rwanda.
7. The evidence, confirmed in original UN documents, also shows that, between April 6, 1994 and the RPF military victory in mid-July 1994, the Rwandan Government and the RGF repeatedly asked for an unconditional cease-fire to permit its few, battle-hardened troops to use force to stop the massacres. When the RGF stated that it lacked the means to stop the massacres without a ceasefire, UN documents confirmed that this was known to be true by Gen. Dallaire and Gen. Kagame in March 1994, before the assassination of President Habyarimana.
8. Canadian General Dallaire testified in January 2004 that: (a) there were only about 5,000 dependable RGF troops; (b) the first obligation of all armies, including the Canadian Army and the RGF, is to defend the “security of the homeland;” (c) and, it was militarily impossible for the RGF/Gendarmes to fight a war of invasion AND stop long-predicted, retaliatory, civilian-civilian massacres.
9. Between April 1994 and July 1994, the RPF was the only military force in Rwanda which was militarily capable of stopping the massacres, with or without a cease-fire, however, on numerous occasions Gen. Kagame specifically ordered field officers NOT to use troops “to save civilians while RPF soldiers are dying” and, as Gen. Dallaire testified under oath, Gen. Kagame told him that civilian killings are “collateral damage” for his war plan.
10. According to sworn ICTR testimony, Gen. Kagame specifically ordered the creation of particular units responsible for “cleansing” civilians from areas controlled by the RPF and was personally present as tens of thousands of civilians were lured to Byumba Stadium in late April 1994 and massacred by RPF troops under his command, among other atrocities.
11. Much of this information can be found in: The Secret History of Rwanda by former RPF Officer Abdul Joshua Ruzibiza, recently published in Paris; the Report of Serge Desouter to the ICTR, an historian of the Belgian “White Fathers” century-old mission in Rwanda; the public and closed transcripts at the ICTR; and, original UN documents introduced as exhibits in the Military 1 case (Bagasora et al) at the ICTR.
12. In July 2003, then-ICTR Prosecutor Carla del Ponte announced that she had discovered enough evidence to prosecute BOTH sides in the Rwandan War. However, shortly thereafter, Pres. Kagame called for her resignation, as did Colin Powell and Kofi Annan. She was replaced two months later and, to this date, not ONE person associated with Gen. Kagame’s successful seizure of power has been called to account at the ICTR (unlike the ICTY in which leaders associated with all major actors have been indicted).
13. In light of the evidence now in the public record of the Tribunal, a formal Motion is being prepared which requests the President of the Tribunal, and the Office of the Prosecutor, to draft the Indictment of Paul Kagame for Murder, Conspiracy to Commit Murder, various War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity and Conspiracy to commit such crimes, all committed by him, and the troops he commanded in Rwanda in 1994.
14. Motions to dismiss charges presently pending against former RGF Officers for actions properly attributed to the victors of the 1994 RPF War of Accession to Power.
Since the ICTR has not been well-covered in the western media, I have no doubt that you and your advisors have not been made aware of the above before issuing the invitation to the current Rwandan President. However, since this information is already in the public record, and more is being accumulated daily, I could not permit an accused war-criminal, on the same order as the recently arrested former-president Charles Taylor, to receive the endorsement of the Canadian Government, without putting the record straight....and putting the matter before your Government for evaluation.
I would be pleased to direct your staff to relevant materials in the public record at the ICTR, if that would be convenient to the Canadian Government.
Respectfully,
Prof. Peter Erlinder, ICTR Lead Defence Counsel Past-President, National Lawyers Guild, N.Y.C. USA Wm. Mitchell College of Law 875 Summit Av. St. Paul, MN 55105 (651) 290-6384 @wmitchell.edu U.N. No. (212) 963-2850 (ext. 5073).
Source:
Orwell Today
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Erlinder’s Arrest: A Blessing or Curse
By Eleneus Akanga
The London Despatch
May 28, 2010
Kigali will argue they have finally got their man but the arrest of Prof Peter Erlinder today in Kigali has every potential to go down as a defining moment in the history of this tiny country, who many now know loves tussling it out with the mightiest.
The American Professor of Law at William Mitchel College of Law in St Paul, Minnesota, a successful criminal lawyer and lead counsel at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) is now, as Kigali will want the world to know, in their hands – ready to face the long arm of the law for denying genocide – at least for now. Don’t be surprised if when the charge sheet is presented, it contains associating with terrorists and promoting divisionism. The three, according to prosecutors in Kigali, MUST go together; otherwise the case wouldn’t be TRULLY RWANDAN.
Having arrived in Rwanda on Sunday, May 23, to defend incarcerated opposition politician Victoire Ingabire – another member of the public whose charge sheet includes the three named charges, Erlinder who a Rwandan prosecution source described as ‘a big fish given his association with known genocidaires’ now has to get himself a lawyer and consider his defence for Ingabire impossible.
Already, the American Embassy has made it clear it won’t be commenting further on the case apart from confirming that Prof Erlinder has been arrested.
But what exactly are the politics here?
Before I go any further, it is perhaps imperative that we get to understand who Prof Erlinder is and how he fits into this amazing Rwandan cobweb. Erlinder is not only famous for being a successful and intelligent criminal lawyer, he was lead counsel in the famous Military I trial in Arusha where it was argued and established that there was “no planning or conspiracy on the part of the former government to commit the genocide”.
Earlier this month, Prof Erlinder was again among a group of attorneys who sought to serve President Paul Kagame for wrongful death in a $350 million dollar suit filed in Oklahoma. As a long time critic of the regime in Kigali, Prof Erlinder was always in Kagame’s black book and it was not a surprise when his name appeared alongside those of people considered evil and worth eliminating by the Rwandan regime as leaked on the internet by Keith Harmon Snow.
Even with the US declaring itself yesterday and choosing to lay-bear the fears inside Rwanda in a scathing report published on the internet Thursday May 27, Kigali today decided enough was enough and moved in on the Professor.
Why is the question?
From the day Victoire Ingabire was arrested, Erlinder made it clear he was prepared to be part of her defence team. His interest was publicised and Rwanda knew then, that Erlinder was on his way. Sources within Rwanda’s prosecution have told me that fearing Erlinder’s interest in the case and his expression of willingness to defend Ingabire, the government started circulating stories in the local and regional press aimed at scaring away the America. Newspaper reports hinted at the possibility of an immediate arrest on arrival for previously denying the genocide ever took place.
But the more Erlinder was threatened, the more he made certain his desire to travel and represent Ingabire. And since much of the evidence in the case against Ingabire is circumstantial and some of it from coerced testimonies, Rwanda feared a smart counsel of Erlinder’s stature would quash it, thereby making a successful prosecution impossible. Such, would of course exonerate her from all the charges, allowing her to register her party FDU-Inkingi in time for the presidential elections in August.
Bring in Plan B
As the government worked around the clock for a way to prevent an embarrassment, Prof Erlinder arrived in Kigali. He was never arrested because technically the leaked list threat was never official – and thus not enough to effect an arrest – especially since the government had been denying knowledge of it. So, Erlinder was left to enter the country and instead another tactic devised. Working with the Bar Association of Rwanda, the government decided this time to delay in the hope of refusing Erlinder permission to practice.
Again, a newspaper campaign was mounted against his visit with emphasis on the fact that he had no legal right to practice in the country despite his interest in defending Ingabire. However, as a law professor and a counsel who had worked at the ICTR in neighbouring Tanzania, this move was destined to fall through. It is then that “on orders from above,” police was instructed to arrest him.
Curse or Blessing
In arresting Prof Erlinder, the Rwandan government may have overlooked one simple fact – the obvious case of the arrest having two sides. Erlinder’s arrest can only be either a blessing or curse for Rwanda.
A source told me today that part of the reason they arrested him was because they hoped the arrest of such a high profile figure would send a signal to all the “genocide deniers” and regime critics that no one will be tolerated and if it means fighting it out in court, the government is prepared “to arrest and shame”.
As stupid as this argument is, it disregards the fact that Prof Erlinder while a “big fish” is no ordinary tilapia or tuna! If the fish paradigm is to be followed, Prof Erlinder might indeed be a whale that will rock the boat and turn the tables up for what has never been heard or seen.
Kigali should know this, especially because the establishment knows and understand the truth. Incarcerating Erlinder will of course arouse more publicity to Kigali to add to the one already aimed at Rwanda over Ingabire’s arrest or the recent bombs and chaos in the run up to the August elections.
Some one will have obviously overlooked this and advised President Paul Kagame to sanction the arrest. Usually, this is what happens in Rwanda when anger overrides sane reasoning. We have seen this with the head of state kicking off and throwing tantrums in the middles of state addresses or speeches to ambassadors accredited to the country or in a recent example, going against the tenets of justice by attempting contempt of court as in what happened in his last interview to Daily Monitor a week ago.
With a president so gaffe prone that he forgets where he has to put a comma and goes until the last full stop, a case involving Erlinder or one in which he has to take the stand is the last thing Kigali needs.
Sometimes, you get your man or your fish but when the fishing stick it too weak to pull the fish up from the sea, it might be better to just ignore, me thinks.
…..now over to you my little monsters!
Rwanda is not ready for the medicine of democracy, says Kagame
Avoiding more ethnic violence is a priority, the President tells Sarah Rundell in Kigali
By The Independent
May 29, 2010
Paul Kagame is expected to win another presidential landslide but opposition leaders have complained of harassment.
Paul Kagame, the only leader Rwanda has known since the end of the genocide, has said his country is not ready for the "medicine" of democracy ahead of elections in August.
The 52-year-old former guerrilla leader told The Independent that feeding the country's burgeoning population and avoiding a relapse into ethnic violence are more of a priority for now than the "niceties" of democracy and human rights.
Speaking at his presidential office set in lush gardens in the hilly Rwandan capital, Kigali, he said: "We have made huge progress but I have no illusions about how far we still have to go."
Mr Kagame is famous for his punctuality, and any member of his staff arriving after 7am finds the door has been locked. Supporters claim that the discipline, born of his military background, work ethic and sense of urgency, has underpinned Rwanda's resurgence since the 1994 genocide. His anti-corruption efforts continue to impress foreign donors and he is almost certain to win re-election by a significant margin, but awkward questions are being asked about his leadership.
Critics accuse the autocratic Mr Kagame of preventing all forms of opposition. Since the election year began, newspapers have been closed, senior military figures sacked and opposition leaders have complained of harassment and threats.
These complaints are dismissed by the President. He "had nothing to do with" the recent banning of two independent newspapers; the generals dismissed in a military shake-up were guilty of corruption; and he accuses presidential rival Victoire Ingabire, who heads the opposition party United Democratic Forces, of using ethnicity to garner support.
Other opposition candidates, like the Democratic Green Party's Frank Habineza, can register their parties and stand as long as they "abide by the rules". He added: "A strong opposition is not my responsibility."
Quietly spoken and given to philosophical flourishes, he states that perhaps Rwanda isn't yet ready for a dose of democratic "medicine". "Democracy has two sides: substance and form," he explains. "Sometimes they are packaged together and you must swallow it as a medicine. We share the substance, meaning the definition, but how that is expressed is contextual."
"Democracy and human rights are niceties and are all important, but tell me, if somebody is wondering if they have anything to eat, they are not listening," he continues. "It's a fact that when somebody has food, when you bring another message, then they listen."
Mr Kagame believes Rwanda should be allowed to develop its own way of dealing with its past, free from the critical eye of "teachers" in the developed world. "We have not had the luxury to do things according to the rule book. We have to experiment, to see if it works. The West has democracy but it also has the institutions to hold people accountable." He cites as one example Rwanda's own solution to the challenge of balancing justice and reconciliation without a proper legal system in the aftermath of the genocide. Gacaca courts gave perpetrators the chance to ask forgiveness from their communities. "This is a problem for which we generated our own answer."
The trauma of his past still informs his daily life. A wave of ethnic violence in 1960 forced his family to flee to Uganda where he grew up in a refugee camp. "Everything I got I had to earn and I had to fight for. I am still fighting now. There is not a single day that passes without this sense."
He believes foreign critics fail to grasp the dynamics at play in Rwanda and says he sees role models in countries like Singapore and South Korea. "Developing countries are on the receiving end all the time, of being pushed back, of people saying that's where you belong. We are not deterred by what outsiders think. I am not guided by criticism. What we want to achieve is for ourselves. If you ask Rwandans how they feel about the government they will give a different view from outsiders."
Mr Kagame won the 2003 election after securing 95 per cent of the vote. Economic growth, which touched 11 per cent in 2008, is fundamental to "accelerating the healing", he says.
Foreign investment has risen from a trickle to $120m (£83m) and Rwanda now pitches itself as a business hub in East Africa. He has won plaudits for governance in a region renowned for corruption and has halved dependence on aid in the past 15 years. If he stands for a third term in 2017, he will have been President since 2003 and in power, de facto, since 1994. When I ask if he is planning to stand, he fixes me with a fierce gaze. "There is a constitution and I will respect it. Give me the benefit of the doubt."
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Rwanda Today: When Foreign Aid Hurts More Than It Helps
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Rwanda: Government cracks down on opposition groups in build-up to August election
By Daniel HowdenAfrica Correspondent
The Independent
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Rwanda appears set for a rerun of its deeply undemocratic vote in 2003. That election was widely denounced after the former rebel army leader Paul Kagame took 95 per cent of the vote and all effective opposition was quashed. Now, as then, opposition leaders are being arrested or intimidated, rival parties are being refused the right to register and critical newspapers are being closed down. Adding to the tension is a series of deadly grenade attacks that have shattered the peace in the capital, Kigali. They have been followed by the sudden sacking of senior army officials.
The main opposition leader, Victoire Ingabire, faces trial charged with genocide denial. After securing the temporary release of Mrs Ingabire on Thursday, her US lawyer, Peter Erlinder, was himself taken into custody.
The opposition crackdown has prompted the US government, normally a staunch ally of President Kagame, to voice its concern in unusually strong terms. The US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Johnnie Carson, said: "The political environment ahead of the election has been riddled by a series of worrying actions taken by the government of Rwanda, which appear to be attempts to restrict the freedom of expression."
In addition to the arrest of Mrs Ingabire, Mr Carson pointed to the suspension of two newspapers and the denial of a visa to a researcher from the New York-based Human Rights Watch, which has repeatedly criticised government oppression.
The build-up to the August poll has exposed the fraught nature of the discussion over the events in 1994 that left 800,000 people dead and millions displaced. The current government insists that the killings were part of a premeditated Hutu campaign to wipe out ethnic Tutsis and have criminalised any dissenting views. Mrs Ingabire, a Hutu, who returned to Rwanda after 16 years in exile, has since been accused of inciting racial hatred. She has had her efforts to register her United Democratic Forces party blocked, her computer seized and her passport confiscated.
A coalition of opposition groups last week appealed to the President to stop what they described as a series of "near war" speeches from poisoning the election. "Politically there's no space for the opposition or any other view than that of the government," said Daniela Kroslak, an analyst with the International Crisis Group in Nairobi, Kenya.
Related Materials:
Rwanda is not ready for the medicine of democracy, says Kagame
Rwanda: American Lawyer for Opposition Figure Is Arrested in Rwanda
By JOSH KRON and JEFFREY GETTLEMAN
The New York Times
May 28, 2010
KAMPALA, Uganda — Rwandan authorities on Friday arrested an American lawyer who is representing a leading Rwandan opposition figure, the latest sign of an increasingly repressive atmosphere there.
Peter Erlinder, a law professor at William Mitchell College of Law in Minnesota, is being charged with denying the Rwandan genocide and was being interrogated Friday night at police headquarters in the capital, Kigali, Rwandan officials said.
The Rwandan government seems to be getting increasingly sensitive in the months before national elections in August and recently lashed out at the American government, one of its biggest donors, for complaining about restrictions on the media and human rights groups.
The Rwandan government has barred a Human Rights Watch researcher from working in the country and closed down several independent newspapers. Some opposition supporters have been attacked inside government offices; others have been jailed.
Mr. Erlinder previously defended genocide suspects at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in Arusha, Tanzania, and recently helped file a lawsuit in Oklahoma against Rwanda’s president, Paul Kagame, which may have provoked the government’s ire.
“He is an advocate for unpopular causes,” which is “one of the great traditions of lawyers,” said Eric S. Janus, president and dean of William Mitchell.
Mr. Erlinder arrived in Kigali on Sunday to take on the case of Victoire Ingabire, a leading opposition politician who has been trying to run for president but was recently charged with helping a rebel group and espousing genocide ideology. Human rights observers say the Rwandan government has vaguely defined the crime of genocide ideology and is using it to punish political opponents and people who challenge the government’s version of the genocide in 1994, when hundreds of thousands of minority Tutsis and a smaller number of moderate Hutus were killed.
A police spokesman, Eric Kayingare, said that Mr. Erlinder was accused of “denying the genocide” and “negationism” from statements he had made at the tribunal in Arusha, as well as “in his books, in publications.”
Mr. Erlinder’s arrest comes days after Johnnie Carson, the assistant secretary of state for African affairs, told Congress that the Rwandan government was restricting human rights ahead of presidential elections. A spokesperson for Rwanda dismissed that criticism, saying that American concerns “need to be contextualized.”
Ms. Ingabire was arrested in April after she claimed that crimes committed in 1994 against Hutus by the ruling party had gone unpunished. In a telephone interview on Friday, she said she was surprised the authorities were now going after her lawyer.
“He has the same problem as me,” Ms. Ingabire said. “There was a genocide against the Tutsi, but there were also crimes against humanity, and Kagame doesn’t like to talk about that.”
Note:
Josh Kron reported from Kampala, and Jeffrey Gettleman from Nairobi, Kenya
A version of this article appeared in print on May 29, 2010, on page A9 of the New York edition.
National Lawyers Guild Demands Immediate Release of Attorney Peter Erlinder
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 28, 2010
CONTACT:
National Lawyers Guild (NLG)
David Gespass, 205-566-2530
Heidi Boghosian, 917-239-4999
National Lawyers Guild Demands Immediate Release of Attorney Peter Erlinder
Vigorous Legal Advocate Arrested in Rwanda
NEW YORK - May 28 - The National Lawyers Guild (NLG) demands the immediate release of its former president, Professor Peter Erlinder, whom Rwandan Police arrested early today on charges of "genocide ideology." He had traveled to Rwanda's capital, Kigali, on May 23, to join the defense team of Rwandan presidential candidate Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza. Erlinder is reportedly being interrogated at the Rwandan Police Force's Kacyiru headquarters.
"Professor Erlinder has been acting in the best tradition of the legal profession and has been a vigorous advocate in his representation of Umuhoza. There can be no justice for anyone if the state can silence lawyers for defendants whom it dislikes and a government that seeks to prevent lawyers from being vigorous advocates for their clients cannot be trusted. The entire National Lawyers Guild is honored by his membership and his courageous advocacy," said David Gespass, the Guild's president.
Erlinder traveled to Kigali after attending the Second International Criminal Defense Lawyers' Conference in Brussels. Since his arrival in Kigali, the state-sponsored Rwandan media has been highly critical of Erlinder.
The Rwandan Parliament adopted the "Law Relating to the Punishment of the Crime of Genocide Ideology" (Genocide Ideology Law), on July 23, 2008. It defines genocide ideology broadly, requires no link to any genocidal act, and can be used to include a wide range of legitimate forms of expression, prohibiting speech protected by international conventions such as the Genocide Convention of 1948 and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights 1966.
Sarah Erlinder, Arizona attorney and NLG member said, "My father has made a career defending unpopular people and unpopular speech-and is now being held because of his representation of unpopular clients and analysis of an historical narrative that the Kagame regime considers inconvenient. We can help defend his rights now by drawing U.S. government and media attention to his situation and holding the Rwandan government accountable for his well-being."
Before leaving for Brussels and then Kigali, Professor Erlinder notified the U.S. State Department, his Minnesota Congressional Representative Betty McCullom, Representative Keith Ellison, and Minnesota Senators Al Franken and Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar.
Professor Erlinder is a professor of law at the William Mitchell College of Law. He is a frequent litigator and consultant, often pro bono, in cases involving the death penalty, civil rights, claims of government and police misconduct, and criminal defense of political activists. He is also a frequent news commentator. Erlinder was president of the National Lawyers Guild from 1993-1997, and is a current board member of the NLG Foundation. He has been a defense attorney at the UN International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda since 2003.
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The National Lawyers Guild is dedicated to the need for basic and progressive change in the structure of our political and economic system. Through its members--lawyers, law students, jailhouse lawyers and legal workers united in chapters and committees--the Guild works locally, nationally and internationally as an effective political and social force in the service of the people.
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