Hungry for Truth, Peace and Justice

Rwanda: Erlinder acknowledges suicide attempt in jail

The daughter of the Minnesotan being held in Rwanda said the admission might simply be a strategic move.

By JEREMY HERB and KEVIN DIAZ
Star Tribune staff writers
June 14, 2010

“I had a breakdown,” Peter Erlinder told a Rwandan court on Monday, explaining his mental state when he couldn’t talk with lawyers or family members.

WASHINGTON - St. Paul law Prof. Peter Erlinder told a court on Monday that he did try to kill himself in a Rwandan jail cell this month.

Erlinder, who appeared in Rwanda's high court appealing for his release on bail, said he has struggled with depression for 25 years and has felt suicidal before, according to audio recordings of the hearing obtained by the Star Tribune.

"Your honor, I lost all hope to live," said Erlinder, who appeared in court clad in a pink jail smock and shorts and sporting a freshly-buzzed head and beard. "When I was in the detention facility not knowing what was going to happen, not being able to talk to lawyers, family, not knowing if I was going to live or die, I had a breakdown," he said.

Erlinder's suicide admission on Monday was the latest in a series of odd occurrences stemming from his arrest in Rwanda last month on charges of denying the country's 1994 genocide.

A professor at William Mitchell College of Law, Erlinder remains in prison after being denied bail last week. His appeal will be decided on Thursday.

Erlinder's daughter, Arizona attorney Sarah Erlinder, said her father's statements may have been part of a strategy to put his psychological concerns before the court.

Erlinder's court statements allude to his mental health problems and raise the prospect that he could die in Rwandan custody -- a scenario that could have diplomatic repercussions.

"There's been a lot of guessing on our part about where his head is at and what his strategy is," Sarah Erlinder said.

At Monday's hearing, Erlinder also alluded to a connection with the Obama family, saying that he was once First Lady Michelle Obama's "garbage man." Erlinder's family says it appears to be a reference to his early days working at his father's truck hauling business on the South Side of Chicago.

posted by Mamadou Kouyate @ 1:06 AM