Michele Garnett McKenzie                                                      Robin Phillips

Advocacy Director                                                                  Executive Director

(w) 612-341-3302, ext. 117                                                      (w) 612-341-3302, ext. 109

mmckenzie@advrights.org                                                      rphillips@advrights.org

 

 

Minneapolis (June 1, 2010) – The Advocates for Human Rights expresses grave concerns about arrest and detention of attorney Peter Erlinder by the Government of Rwanda. Erlinder, a professor of law at William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul, was arrested by Rwandan police on May 28 after arriving in the country as part of the legal defense team of opposition leader Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza. Both Ingabire and Erlinder face charges of promoting “genocide ideology,” a crime under Rwandan law.

 

“We have called upon the Government of Rwanda for the release of Professor Erlinder,” says Robin Phillips, executive director of The Advocates for Human Rights. “The Advocates is gravely concerned that the Government of Rwanda appears to be using its genocide ideology law to silence both members of the political opposition and the attorneys seeking to ensure a fair trial for the accused.”

 

The arrests of Ingabire and Erlinder come in the context of an apparent government crackdown on political opposition prior to the upcoming presidential election in August 2010. Rwanda has banned two newspapers from operating until after the election, charging that they had insulted the president and attempted to foment insubordination in the military. The Rwandan government recently denied a visa to a Human Rights Watch researcher who had been working in Rwanda and has denounced criticism by human rights organizations and the U.S. Government.

 

Rwandan law criminalizes any act considered to promote “genocide ideology.” The broad provisions of the Rwandan genocide ideology law prohibit speech protected by international human rights law including “marginalizing, laughing at one’s misfortune, defaming, mocking, boasting, despising, degrading, creating confusion aiming at negating the genocide which occurred, stirring up ill feelings, taking revenge, altering testimony or evidence for the genocide which occurred.” Those convicted face sentences of imprisonment of up to twenty-five years and fines of up to 1,000,000 Rwandan francs.

 

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