ICTR defense lawyers petition UN Security Council over Erlinder

Kigali: Refusal by the Gasabo Intermediate Court to grant bail to American attorney Peter Erlinder has prompted more than 30 defence lawyers to inform the UN Security Council that that are not willing to continue their work at the ICTR, RNA reports.

In a joint statement to the UN Security Council and the International Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), the defence lawyers have said they fear for their own safety and have demanded Erlinder's immediate release.

"We hereby resolve to postpone all activities, other than those which strictly conserve the interests of our mandates, until such time as the minimum conditions or the normal exercise of our missions have been restored by the removal of threats," the statement says. "[We are] aware of the dangers which immediately and directly threaten most of our number."

Peter Erlinder, a US lawyer leading the defence case of top genocide suspects, was denied bail Monday, two weeks after his arrest on charges of denying the Tutsi Genocide.

The treatment of defence lawyers has prompted widespread international condemnation, with the US government calling for Erlinder's release.

The case is also likely to place pressure on the UK authorities, including the Crown Prosecution Service, which has been providing assistance to Rwanda prosecutors to facilitate the extradition of genocide suspects currently residing in the UK, The Guardian reported.

Experts say the incident undermines negotiations surrounding the international criminal court, under way in Kampala.

"How can international criminal courts operate effectively if defence lawyers are at risk of being arrested for what they say on behalf of their clients?" manda Pinto QC, Bar Council representative at the International Criminal Bar, told The Guardian. "This affects all defence lawyers at the ICTR, but the issues are potentially the same for defence counsel anywhere in the international forum."

The government has defended the decision to prosecute Erlinder. "It is an act of justice," foreign affairs minister Louise Mushikiwabo said in a statement on Monday, shortly after the court had ruled. "Flagrant and orchestrated breaches of our genocide ideology laws will be met with the full force of the law."