US Lawyer Peter Erlinder: Where to find the right facts on the Rwandan genocide
In the picture it is the lawyer who is wearing the prisoner uniform, but Peter Erlinder, after two weeks in jail in Kigali, would manage to be released following international pressure. Victoire Ingabire's turn in prisoner's uniform starts on October 14th, 2010. Last December she has been sentenced to 15 years of imprisonment.
Peter Erlinder was imprisoned in Rwanda in 2010 when he went to defend Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza. At the occasion of commemorating the 20th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide, through an interview published by Black Star News, the US lawyer explains a number of facts that many who have been intoxicated by RPF propaganda don't have access to. There have been massive cover-up and deceit, so much so that to unveil the truth will take sometime.
Please find here a short extract of the interview.
Q: As we are getting closer to the 20th anniversary of Rwandan Genocide; what does this mean to you?
A: During the past 20 years, we have learned that a UN Tribunal charged with prosecuting all crimes that were committed in Rwanda during 1994 has prosecuted only crimes charged to the defeated and none have been charged to the victors. This means the four-year war of aggression and invasion of the RPF supported by Uganda [about which there is no dispute] is the first in history in which only the defending side committed crimes, or like Nuremberg and the Tokyo Tribunals, the supposedly neutral UN Tribunal was actually a victor's tribunal. As former U.S. Secretary of [Defense] Robert McNamara admitted in the documentary The Fog of War 'Had the Japanese won the war, those of us who planned the gasoline bombing of Tokyo would have been the war criminals.' Until a fair assignment of mutual responsibility is reached, long-lasting peace in Rwanda and central Africa will be difficult to achieve.
Q: How would you like people to look at this eventful day April 6 which many believe to have triggered the 1994 genocide and today's debate and narrative?
A: As early as 1997 UN Prosecutors recommended that Paul Kagame be prosecuted for the assassinations of Presidents Habyarimana and Ntaryamira. The U.S. removed U.N Prosecutor Del Ponte from office when she insisted on doing so on May 15, 2003. Former Chief of Staff to Kagame, Dr. Theogene Rudesingwa has admitted being involved in the cover-up. The detailed testimony in the ICTR Military-1 case resulted in every Trial Chamber, and the Appeal Chamber, agreeing that the former Rwandan military were not engaged in any criminal conspiracy before the assassination of President Habyarimana…. that would include the assassination itself. I would like people to look at the same evidence that convinced ALL of the ICTR judges.
Q: People wonder and would like to understand why very few people accused of being perpetrators of Rwandan Genocide have actually been convicted?
A: Many, if not most, have been convicted of crimes committed after the assassination of President Habyarimana. All national leaders have been acquitted of crimes of conspiracy and planning before the assassination because the Kagame regime and UN Prosecutors have no evidence to support their claim that a long-planned conspiracy to commit genocide against Tutsi, or any other civilians actually existed.
To read the full interview, please click on this link: http://www.blackstarnews.com/global-politics/africa/narrative-shift-us-lawyer-highlights-kagames-role-in-rwanda-genocide-and
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