Kabanda’s musings : Hypocrites, hypocrites and more hypocrites

The arrest and granting of court bail to Professor Peter Erlinder has provided lessons in human character. Not that the character of the old Professor has been unknown, it is how he behaved and said while under custody and on his release and of the number of persons and organizations that came out to ride on the publicity surrounding his detention and release. On 17th June 2010, the High Court in Kigali granted bail to Prof. Peter Erlinder on medical grounds. Presiding High Court president, Johnston Busingye was quoted as having said, “I have sufficient reasons to believe that here is a case of the accused still at the pre-trial phase… physical and mental health must take precedent in the case in question… It would be unjust for court to keep his life at the risk of mortality and morbidity as suggested by Doctors.” Earlier on 5 June 2010 when he appeared in a lower court he had pleaded with the judge to “conditionally release him and allow him to travel back to the United States for appropriate treatment as he was “undergoing an emotional and psychological breakdown”. In an interview on Sunday June 20, 2010, Erlinder was quoted saying in a press conference in Nairobi that he believes he is still alive because he is a white man from a powerful country. “Imagine if I was not a mzungu. Imagine if I was not from the US. Imagine if I was not a law professor,” he was quoted as saying. Many people believe the United States of America is the embodiment of the true separation of the three bodies that make democratic governments; the Executive, Legislature and Judiciary. We are told the three arms of government enjoy independence and do not meddle or influence each other’s work but on June 8, 2010 it was reported that U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar sent a letter to Rwanda’s ambassador to the U.S. “urging that Rwandan authorities” grant St. Paul attorney Peter Erlinder an expedited appeal hearing. She was later quoted as saying, “Today’s decision by the Rwandan court to release Professor Erlinder is the positive action we have been pushing for...Professor Erlinder should not have been held in prison, and I’m glad that the court has recognized this. I will continue to work with his family and the State Department to bring Professor Erlinder home.” When did members of the legislatures turn into judges to know who “should be held in prison? Can anyone imagine a Rwandan Senator “pushing” for a suspect in custody in the US when known genocide killers who have been indicted move freely in that country? The arrest of Erlinder provided an opportunity to the ‘mistaken hero’ of the Rwandan tragedy 16 years ago, Paul Rusesabagina, the man who demanded money from refugees running from certain death at the hands of marauding killers to the Hotel he managed in the centre of Kigali, to “now working around the clock to ensure that Peter’s human rights are respected and to free him from his imprisonment” and he wanted everyone’s monetary support to do exactly that. Those who donated above $ 100 received an autographed copy of his book. It remains to be seen whether the donations to free Erlinder will be used differently compared to the donations he raised to educate the “orphans of the genocide and AIDS in Rwanda.” Allison Turner speaking on behalf of the International Criminal Defense Attorneys Association (ICDAA) told journalists, on 3rd June 2010 on the sidelines of the International Criminal Court review conference in Kampala, Uganda, that, “Professor Erlinder’s arrest is an attack on the freedom of speech and a politically motivated attempt to further frustrate the democratic process in Rwanda….He is being held in terrible conditions; every time he leaves his little cell he is handcuffed including visits to the wash room.” If you thought some criminal Attorneys are honest and decent persons defending the rights of people suspected to be criminals basing on facts and evidence, you may be wrong! With the publicity surrounding Peter Erlinder’s case, the East Africa Law Society (EALS) seized the opportunity to make its existence remembered. Dr Allan Shonubi, its President, issued a statement on 14th June 2010 calling, “upon the Government of the Republic of Rwanda to ensure that Erlinder is granted the full benefit of a speedy fair trial and due process as espoused by various regional and international human rights instruments and conventions.” The statement demanded Erlinder to be treated under instruments and conventions that include the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the UN Convention on Civil and Political Rights as well as the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights. Of all individuals, groups, organizations and communities/tribes that need legal representation, advice and advocacy in Burundi, Rwanda, Kenya, United Republic of Tanzania and Uganda where members of EALS operate, did the East Africa Law Society zero in on Erlinder, a law Professor with a ‘swarm’ of lawyers defending him, as the individual in most need of their intervention? Did Shonubi imagine that the Public Prosecution Office had negated its obligations therefore the need to remind them? At Dulles Airport in Washington DC, Erlinder told reporters on June 22, 2010 that, “The individuals I interacted with in the police station, including the supervisors, the guards in the prison, were very helpful…Without them, I wouldn’t have survived, because for five days, I didn’t have any food coming from the embassy or anywhere else. I was dependent on guards going out in the street and buying me a banana. ... By Rwandan standards, I was treated pretty well.” However the U.S. Embassy spokeswoman, Edwina Sagitto, had earlier told the Press, “Embassy officials visited Erlinder everyday and were in constant touch with his family. The Embassy also provided him food every day, and medicine from his doctors in the United States every day.” In Nairobi he had said during a press conference of the American Embassy, “It was impossible for them to arrange a doctor whom I would pay so that I wouldn’t have to get my food and my medication from my captors.” The revelation by Erlinder’s wife Masako Usui that he has been on anti-depressants for most of his adult life may partly explain the mental state and actions of the old law professor, however those who wanted to make publicity capital out of his arrest and prosecution deserve no respect because they are self-centred hypocrites. ekaba2002@yahoo.com