Professor Peter Erlinder arrested in Rwanda

The ICDAA has learned that, Professor Peter Erlinder, a defence attorney at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), and Professor of Law at William Mitchell College of Law in the United States, was arrested on 28 May 2010 in Kigali on the charge of "genocide denial" and "genocide minimization". According our sources, Erlinder is still in custody.

Professor Erlinder was in Kigali to represent his client Ms. Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza, who is charged with similar type offences and is challenging President Kagame in the upcoming Rwandan elections.

Professor Erlinder is President of the ICTR defense lawyers association. He is Defence Counsel for Major Aloys Ntabakuze in the "Military I" trial at the ICTR. He also helped organize the successful ICTR Defence Conference in Brussels, Belgium last weekend.

The ICDAA denounces and condemns Professor’s arrest and detention. This form of governmental intimidation and interference with the defence function is a violation of the right to counsel, the right to due process and is unacceptable under any consideration.

The ICDAA is an international organization based in Montréal with attorneys and bar associations from all over the world. It urges all concerned, individuals and organizations, to demand his immediate release.