Rwanda Frees US Lawyer Peter Erlinder, Held for Denying Genocide

(June 18) -- A U.S. lawyer arrested in Rwanda on charges of denying the 1994 wave of genocide in the country has been released on bail on grounds of ill health.

But although Peter Erlinder of Minnesota is free to go home, the case against him technically still stands.

"We are very happy about it; the bail was given without any condition," one of his lawyers, Ken Ogeto, was quoted as saying. He added that Erlinder was "willing to come back any time they need him -- absolutely no problem," the BBC reported.

Adam Scott, AP

A Rwandan judge granted bail to Peter Erlinder on medical grounds Thursday. The U.S. lawyer was arrested on May 28 on charges of denying the 1994 wave of genocide in the country.

Erlinder, a former president of the National Lawyers Guild, was arrested May 28, soon after arriving to defend opposition leader Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza, an ethnic Hutu accused by the Tutsi-dominated government of encouraging genocidal action.

The U.S. lawyer is the lead defense counsel for top genocide suspects at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in Arusha, Tanzania.

About 800,000 people died in the Rwandan genocide, most of them the minority Tutsi. But Erlinder has argued that the Hutu were also the victims, and has blamed President Paul Kagame, a Tutsi, for setting off the violence.

After his arrest, the 62-year-old Erlinder spent three weeks shuttling between jail and a hospital in the Rwandan capital of Kigali, where he was being treated for high blood pressure. He admitted in court that he attempted to commit suicide, MPR News in Minnesota reported.

A U.S. State Department spokesman, Mark Toner, said Washington was pleased with the development and that Erlinder's family had been told of the court's decision. Family members, activists and members of Congress had made repeated calls for his release.

Judge Johnson Busingye of Rwanda's High Court said in his decision Thursday that "no matter how great the accusations," it would be unjust "to put his life at risk of morbidity or mortality as suggested by his doctors."

Erlinder, who was still in the hospital when the ruling was made, will be free to seek medical help in the U.S.

"The prosecution was given the authorization to proceed with the investigations," Ogeto said, adding, however, that he didn't know how they intended to do it.

Erlinger's daughter Sarah told MPR News that, knowing her father, he might return to Rwanda to defend himself.

"I've joked about personally revoking his passport after this," she was was quoted as saying.