Kigali unmoved despite protest over arrest of Ingabire lawyer

By Julius Barigaba
The East African
June 14 2010

Despite mounting criticism over its arrest of a US lawyer over his denial of genocide, Kigali remains unmoved.

Regional and international lawyers continue to criticise the recent arrest of Prof Peter Erlinder, the president of the defence lawyers at the Arusha-based International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.

Last week, the East African Law Society said that the timing of this arrest is discomforting and suspect in view of the fact that Prof Erlinder was due to represent Victoire Ingabire, an opposition presidential contender who has since been linked to subversive activities and faces charges of genocide denial.

They also warned that Kigali could dent its image as a respecter of human rights.

“The arrest is threatening to compromise the otherwise good international human rights record that Rwanda as a country currently enjoys,” said EALS president Dr Alan Shonubi.

Prof Erlinder was arrested on charges of threatening Rwanda’s national security by spreading rumours.

The authorities in Kigali have also brought against him a charge of “genocide denial” similar to that levelled against Ms Ingabire several weeks ago.

Retained as counsel

Two weeks ago, Ms Ingabire, leader of the United Democratic Forces retained Prof Erlinder as her counsel.

Before the EALS came out, a group of international defence lawyers attending the Review Conference of the International Criminal Court in Kampala had condemned the arrest, noting that Prof. Prof Erlinder’s right of functional immunity was being violated.

“There is something called ‘functional immunity’ that refers to lawyers having protection in regard to what they say or do in court as they do their work. You cannot accuse them of any crime because then you are hindering their cause of advancing justice,” said Ken Gallant, a member of the American Association of Defence Attorneys.

The ICTR says that Prof Erlinder’s immunity applies only when he is in Rwanda on work related to the tribunal, of which Ms Ingabire’s woes are not yet part.

Prof Erlinder has made controversial statements and in written documents, attempted to provide alternative explanations for the causes of the Rwandan genocide.

Prof Erlinder is defence counsel for Major Aloys Ntabakuze, one of the four people prosecuted jointly in the Military I trial.

After the 1994 genocide in which an estimated 800,000 Tutsi and moderate Hutu’s were killed, Rwanda developed a law in which advancing political platforms based on the pre-1994 political setup of majority Hutu rule at the expense of the Tutsi minority becomes a crime.

Ms Ingabire, a Hutu, who recently returned from a 16-year exile in the Netherlands to contest the presidential seat has been arrested and interrogated for her remarks that were inclined towards the genocide ideology.