ICTR defense lawyers call for release of US lawyer, threaten boycott

June 10, 2010
ICTR defense lawyers call for release of US lawyer, threaten boycott
06/10/10: Jurist reports that more than 30 defense lawyers from the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda released a joint statement Tuesday calling for the release of detained US lawyer Peter Erlinder, who is being held in Rwanda on charges of genocide denial. The statement calls on international authorities to obtain Erlinder's release and to guarantee immunity for "every person engaged in seeking truth before any international or domestic jurisdiction."
06/08/10: Jurist reports that a Rwandan judge on Monday denied the bail request of US lawyer Peter Erlinder. Judge Maurice Mbishibishi of the Gasabo Intermediate Court cited flight risk in ordering that Erlinder be detained for 30 more days as the investigation is pending. Mbishibishi also stated that Erlinder's defense team had failed to show that Erlinder's illness was caused by his detention.

06/06/10: Jurist reports that US lawyer Peter Erlinder pleaded not guilty Friday to charges of Rwanda genocide denial. Rwandan prosecutors claim that as a result of his past American publications on the Rwandan genocide in tandem with his work as defense counsel at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, Erlinder has become an organizer of genocide deniers. During a five-hour hearing in Kigali, Erlinder denied the accusations, saying that this may be a case of misinterpretation or misunderstanding.

06/04/10: Jurist reports that US lawyer Peter Erlinder on Wednesday attempted to commit suicide while being held in a Rwandan prison on charges of genocide denial, according to police. Erlinder was reportedly found semiconscious in his cell Wednesday morning as police attempted to summon him for further questioning.

06/03/10: The Miami Herald reports that the State Department on Thursday called on the Rwandan government to release a jailed US law professor. Peter Erlinder has been in custody since Friday on charges he denied the central African country's 1994 genocide.

06/02/10: The Miami Herald reports that Peter Erlinder, a Minnesota law professor jailed in Rwanda and charged with genocide denial has long been a sharp critic of the central African nation's president and even helped file a lawsuit accusing the one-time rebel leader of sparking the slaughter that erupted there in 1994.

05/30/10: Jurist reports that Rwandan police on Friday arrested American lawyer Paul Erlinder in Kigali on charges that he denied the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Erlinder, a defense lawyer at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) and president of the ICTR's Association of Defense Lawyers, was in Rwanda to prepare his defense of opposition presidential candidate Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza, who was arrested last month on similar charges.

June 10, 2010 at 09:48 AM in Judiciary / Cases, International Law / Law of War / Human Rights, Africa | Permalink