International Humanitarian Law Institute
Press Release
2 May 2011
Contact:
Dr. Christine Schoettler, PhD. (fr) cschoettler@comcast.net
Andrea Palumbo, JD (eng) andrea.m.palumbo@gmail.com
In a Kigali press release, Rwandan Prosecutor General Martin Ngoga announced his intention to renew the false "genocide denial" thought-crime charges lodged against IHLI Director, Prof. Peter Erlinder, in Rwanda for his writings in the United States. On his behalf, the Institute issues the following statement:
* As Prof. Erlinder has publicly stated on numerous occasions in the
past, he does not dispute that tens of thousands of Rwandan Tutsis perished
between April and July 1994, in circumstances that fit the definition of the
Genocide Convention and that tens of thousands of Hutus were also victims,
during and after April- July 1994. Institute research notes evidence in the
public record shows that;
* Former ICTR Prosecution expert witnesses, Prof. Allen Stam at the University of Michigan and Prof. Christian Davenport of Notre Dame University, analyzed all reports from the Rwandan government, NGO's and the UN, and determined twice as many Hutus were killed as Tutsis between April and July 1994. See: www.genodynamics.org;
* The ICTR Military-1 Judgment (full version: Feb. 8, 2009) found insufficient evidence to convict the former military leadership of a long-planned conspiracy to commit genocide against Tutsi;
* The US Ambassador to Rwanda at the time and declassified US documents from 1994 establish that: the assassination of the President of Burundi in October 1993; a
"genocide of 150,000 Hutus;" hundreds of thousands of Hutu refugees pouring
into Rwanda; the displacement of at least 1 million primarily Hutu Rwandans by RPF military aggression in early 1993; and the RPF assassination of the Presidents of Rwanda and Burundi in April 1994, were the actual causes of the Rwandan genocide. The U.S. Ambassador personally warned General Kagame in November 1993 that, if he resumed the war, he would be responsible for mass violence in Rwanda in 1994, like that in Burundi in 1993;
* UN documents show that the RPF was militarily dominant as of February 1993 and, according to UN Gen. Romeo Dallaire in his cables to the UN in April-June 1994, General Kagame refused to stop the violence because he was winning the war;
* Former ICTR Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte's 2009 memoirs document
then-Gen. Kagame's culpability for the assassination of the Presidents that began the Rwandan genocide, as does the Spanish indictment issued by Judge Abreu Merelles in 2008;
* The Spanish indictment also describes, prefecture-by-prefecture, 325,000 murders of Hutus and Tutsis for which Kagame and the RPF are responsible, not considering the massive killing in Rwanda and the Congo, after 1994;
* Shortly after Erlinder's release, the UN issued the 600-page "Mapping Report" documenting RPF Genocide, Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes 1993-2003. UN Sec. Council Reports document RPF resource rape of the Congo in 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2008 of at least $250 million/year resulting in some 6-7 million deaths;
In October 2010, Pres. Kagame allgedly issued orders to RPF leaders for Prof.
Erlinder's return to Rwanda "dead or alive." Given the hundreds if not thousands of assassinations and disappearances of his opponents, he has no doubt that Kagame would like to add his name to that list if he could. Prof. Erlinder is under medical treatment for PTSD since he returned from detention in Rwanda. is doctors and lawyers will determine the proper response, should he be summoned to return, as Prosecutor General Ngoga is threatening.
03 May, 2011
Rwanda Criminalizes Suicide Attempts
The New Times
by Edwin Musoni
3 May 2011
Any person attempting to commit suicide but survives will be liable to a prison sentence of two to five years.
According to lawmakers, failed suicide is categorised as attempted murder.
Article 162 of the penal code, which was passed by the Senate, indicates that suicide is not punishable, however, the same article adds in its next paragraph that any person who tries to commit suicide but fails, due to circumstances beyond his or her control, shall be liable to imprisonment between two to five years.
Although the article was passed by the majority of Senators, Agnes Kayijire expressed her reservations over the article claiming that it was not in order to charge someone who attempts to take his or her life.
“There is contradiction in this article, I don’t understand how someone survives suicide and then that person is charged. There should be a special way to treat this person,” said Kayijire.
In an interview with The New Times, Dr. Joseph Iyakaremye, a social psychologist, who is also a lecturer at Kigali Institute of Education (KHI) said that a jail sentence may not make any impact on suicide survivors since that person has already taken extreme measures.
“The best way to handle a suicide survivor is to give that person special care and take him or her to a therapist. The person who attempts suicide is no longer thinking straight,” said Iyakaremye.
In his legal interpretation, the Minister of Justice Tharcisse Karugarama defended article 162 sustaining the augment that suicide is closely related to attempted murder.
“Globally, suicide is interpreted as not just someone killing himself but killing a human being. Someone who attempts to kill himself has a problem mentally, physiologically and otherwise; that is why the sentence is so light, you can’t keep that person in prison for so long,” said Karugarama.
“Normally, the judge may instruct the testing of the mental stability of the survivor. These details are stated in the criminal procedure code.”
Meanwhile, the 674-article penal code is in its final stages in the senate, where senators are expected to approve the proposed amendments.
by Edwin Musoni
3 May 2011
Any person attempting to commit suicide but survives will be liable to a prison sentence of two to five years.
According to lawmakers, failed suicide is categorised as attempted murder.
Article 162 of the penal code, which was passed by the Senate, indicates that suicide is not punishable, however, the same article adds in its next paragraph that any person who tries to commit suicide but fails, due to circumstances beyond his or her control, shall be liable to imprisonment between two to five years.
Although the article was passed by the majority of Senators, Agnes Kayijire expressed her reservations over the article claiming that it was not in order to charge someone who attempts to take his or her life.
“There is contradiction in this article, I don’t understand how someone survives suicide and then that person is charged. There should be a special way to treat this person,” said Kayijire.
In an interview with The New Times, Dr. Joseph Iyakaremye, a social psychologist, who is also a lecturer at Kigali Institute of Education (KHI) said that a jail sentence may not make any impact on suicide survivors since that person has already taken extreme measures.
“The best way to handle a suicide survivor is to give that person special care and take him or her to a therapist. The person who attempts suicide is no longer thinking straight,” said Iyakaremye.
In his legal interpretation, the Minister of Justice Tharcisse Karugarama defended article 162 sustaining the augment that suicide is closely related to attempted murder.
“Globally, suicide is interpreted as not just someone killing himself but killing a human being. Someone who attempts to kill himself has a problem mentally, physiologically and otherwise; that is why the sentence is so light, you can’t keep that person in prison for so long,” said Karugarama.
“Normally, the judge may instruct the testing of the mental stability of the survivor. These details are stated in the criminal procedure code.”
Meanwhile, the 674-article penal code is in its final stages in the senate, where senators are expected to approve the proposed amendments.
02 May, 2011
Rwandan Prosecutor General Claims he will Charge US Lawyer Soon.
AP/WNJ
2 May 2011
Rwanda's Prosecutor General said Monday that he is ready to file charges against an American law professor and force the U.S. citizen back to Rwanda to face court proceedings. Rwanda's Prosecutor General Martin Ngoga said he has been strengthening his case against Peter Erlinder since the U.S. lawyer and professor was released from a Rwandan prison last year on medical grounds. Erlinder was jailed on domestic charges in Rwanda last year on allegations he denied the 1994 genocide of the Tutsi and was an alleged threat to state security. Erlinder was a lead defense attorney for the U.N. International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and was in Rwanda at the time of his arrest acting as a defense lawyer to jailed Rwandan opposition party leader Victoire Ingabire.
"We have built a substantive case against Peter Erlinder and we will file this case very soon," Ngoga said. "When we summon him to Kigali to attend the criminal proceedings we expect him to heed the summons. If he doesn't do so we will ask Interpol to intervene. Mr. Erlinder's security is assured and a fair trial is guaranteed."
Erlinder, a professor at William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul, Minn., has said in the past that he would return to Rwanda if charged. He also said he has "no doubt" he will be killed if he returns.
Ngoga has said he would charge Erlinder with genocide denial based on articles Erlinder wrote that were published on the Internet.
Erlinder told The Associated Press on Monday that he agrees "many, many Tutsi Rwandans" were killed in a ways that meet the definition of the Genocide Convention.
"I have great sympathy for that loss," he said.
Erlinder also said it's inaccurate to blame only one side. He said killings by Hutus of Hutus who were protecting Tutsis would not be genocide under the Convention, but may count as war crimes or crimes against humanity. He also said the tribunal ruled last year that there was insufficient evidence to support the view that the genocide was a conspiracy planned long in advance. The court acquitted the four military officers in the trial Erlinder was involved in, including his client, of "conspiracy to commit genocide."
2 May 2011
Rwanda's Prosecutor General said Monday that he is ready to file charges against an American law professor and force the U.S. citizen back to Rwanda to face court proceedings. Rwanda's Prosecutor General Martin Ngoga said he has been strengthening his case against Peter Erlinder since the U.S. lawyer and professor was released from a Rwandan prison last year on medical grounds. Erlinder was jailed on domestic charges in Rwanda last year on allegations he denied the 1994 genocide of the Tutsi and was an alleged threat to state security. Erlinder was a lead defense attorney for the U.N. International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and was in Rwanda at the time of his arrest acting as a defense lawyer to jailed Rwandan opposition party leader Victoire Ingabire.
"We have built a substantive case against Peter Erlinder and we will file this case very soon," Ngoga said. "When we summon him to Kigali to attend the criminal proceedings we expect him to heed the summons. If he doesn't do so we will ask Interpol to intervene. Mr. Erlinder's security is assured and a fair trial is guaranteed."
Erlinder, a professor at William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul, Minn., has said in the past that he would return to Rwanda if charged. He also said he has "no doubt" he will be killed if he returns.
Ngoga has said he would charge Erlinder with genocide denial based on articles Erlinder wrote that were published on the Internet.
Erlinder told The Associated Press on Monday that he agrees "many, many Tutsi Rwandans" were killed in a ways that meet the definition of the Genocide Convention.
"I have great sympathy for that loss," he said.
Erlinder also said it's inaccurate to blame only one side. He said killings by Hutus of Hutus who were protecting Tutsis would not be genocide under the Convention, but may count as war crimes or crimes against humanity. He also said the tribunal ruled last year that there was insufficient evidence to support the view that the genocide was a conspiracy planned long in advance. The court acquitted the four military officers in the trial Erlinder was involved in, including his client, of "conspiracy to commit genocide."
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