NEWS ADVISORY
-International Humanitarian Law Institute (U.S.A.) –
—For the advancement of due process and equality before the law, in the theory and practice of International criminal law—
Director: Prof. Peter Erlinder c/o William Mitchell College of Law (est. 1900) Saint Paul, MN 55105, U.S.A.
Tel: (1)651-290-6384/Fax: (1)651-290-6406
Contact: Dr. Christine Schoettler, PhD. (fr) cschoettler@comcast.net
Andrea Palumbo, JD (eng) andrea.m.palumbo@gmail.com
St. Paul, MN- May 3, 2011- In a May 2nd statement [AP], Rwandan Prosecutor Martin Ngoga renewed the false “genocide denial” thought-crime charges against IHLI Director Prof. Peter Erlinder for his US-authored academic writings, reporting evidence and documents in the record at the UN Tribunal for Rwanda. Rwanda declared him “suicidal” while he was in Rwandan detention last summer. He was released for medical reasons after intervention by Sec. of State Clinton and an international campaign. The IHLI is authorized to issue the following statement on Prof. Erlinder’s behalf:
Prof. Erlinder has publicly stated on numerous occasions: 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. Stam of U.of Mich. and Prof. Davenport of Notre Dame, analyzed all reports from the Rwandan government, NGO’s and the UN, and found twice as many Hutus were killed as Tutsis between April and July 1994, 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, or other crimes;
- The US Ambassador and declassified US documents from 1994, establish that: (a) the assassination of the President of Burundi in October 1993 which triggered a “genocide of 150,000 Burundian Hutus;”(b) hundreds of thousands of Hutu refugees pouring into Rwanda; (c) the displacement of 1.5 million Rwandans by RPF military aggression in early 1993; and (d) the RPF assassination of the Presidents of Rwanda and Burundi in April 1994, were the actual causes of the Rwanda genocide. The U.S. Ambassador to Rwanda personally warned 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, which was also confirmed in cables from the State Dept on April 7, 1994;
- UN documents show that the RPF was militarily dominant as of February 1993 and, according to UN Gen. Dallaire cables to the UN in April-June 1994, Kagame refused to stop the violence because he was winning;
- Former ICTR Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte’s 2009 memoirs document then–Gen. Kagame’s culpability for the assassination of the Presidents of Rwanda and Burundi of April 6, 1994 that began the Rwandan genocide, as does the 2008 indictment issued by Spanish Judge Abreu Merelles and French Judge Bruguiere;
- 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 Security 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 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, there is little doubt Kagame would add his name to that list if he could. Prof. Erlinder has been under medical treatment for PTSD since he returned from detention, which are a matter of record in the ICTR, although the Appeal Chamber chose to ignore his medical condition, his doctors and lawyers will determine the proper response, should he be summoned to return as Ngoga threatened.
Also read: Attorney Sanctioned Despite Medical Symptoms From Rwanda Detention: Consistent with ICTR Cover-up of RPF Crimes