Arsenal
Senior Member
- Aug 12, 2008
- 190
- 71
To what extent i dont know....
On the morning of July 15, I spoke to William Mitchell Law Professor and
international criminal defense attorney Peter Erlinder about the grisly
assassination of Democratic Green Party of Rwanda Vice President Andre Kagwa
Kwisereka. Kwisereka was found beheaded, with a machete left nearby, near
Butare , Rwanda , on July 13, 26 days after Professor Erlinders release in
Rwanda , where Rwandan President Paul Kagames regime had arrested and
incarcerated him for three weeks. Erlinder had traveled to Rwanda to defend
Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza, Rwandas FDU-Inkingi party leader and
presidential candidate, only to be arrested and accused of genocide
ideology, which means disagreeing with Rwandas official history of the
1994 Rwanda Genocide and/or with the regime of Rwandan President Paul
Kagame.
Professor Jwani Mwaikusa headed the Department of Constitutional and
Administrative Law at the University of Dar Es Salaam .
When I told Professor Erlinder about Andre Kagwa Kwiserekas assassination,
he said, Yes, and an ICTR [International Criminal Tribunal on Rwanda ]
defense attorney, Professor Jwani Mwaikusa , was just assassinated, too, in
Dar es Salaam .
He also said:
*No one knows for sure whether he was assassinated by Rwandan Patriotic
Front operatives, but we do know that lawyers put themselves in danger by
defending people whom the RPF have identified as their enemies.*
Professor Erlinder put himself in great danger by traveling to Rwanda , and
says that he would have been disappeared had he not sat down, started
hollering, demanded to speak to the U.S. Embassy, and made the sort of scene
that white Americans feel empowered to make, in the Kigali hotel where he
had been arrested. Professor Mwaikusa, however, put himself in far more
danger and paid the ultimate final price, along with a nephew and neighbor
who attempted to come to his defense.
Law Professors Peter Erlinder and Jwani Mwaikusa both served as defense
attorneys for the International Criminal Tribunal on Rwanda (ICTR).
Professor Erlinder and Professor Mwaikusa were both towering, world renowned
legal scholars, teachers and human rights defenders, but Professor Erlinder
was an American who survived, Professor Mukwaisa an African who paid with
his life. His assassins no doubt knew that, though their stature and
accomplishments were similar, the international outcry and consequence would
not compare.
As U.S. citizens, we are complicit in Professor Mwaikusas death because
President Paul Kagames Rwanda is the highest per capita recipient of U.S.
aid in Africa .
Thanks to Professor Charles Kambanda for sharing his thoughts on Professor
Mwaikusa and his legacy. *Ann Garrison*
Professor Jwani Mwaikusa : Martyr for truth
*by Charles Kambanda*
The identity, motive and/or sponsors of Professor Jwani Mwaikusa s
assassins, in Dar es Salaam , Tanzania , may remain unknown, meaning
unproven, for some time, but Professor Mwaikusas friends and colleagues
know that whoever was responsible deprived the legal fraternity and the
entire human race of an irreplaceable, independent and incorruptible mind.
We will remember his extensive knowledge of philosophy and law, his both
Cartesian and naturalist legal theory, his deep humanity, his great sense of
humor and his courageous, landmark work at the International Criminal
Tribunal on Rwanda (ICTR). Professor Mwaikusa contributed much of his
valuable time to defending the accused at the ICTR. His concise and precise
objections to any inadmissible evidence or testimony was his unique
contribution. The quality of his research in preparation for his court
appearances will also remain an ICTR landmark.
In order to defend his clients, Professor Jwani Mwaikusa , a Tanzanian by
birth, inquired into Rwanda s social and political environment prior,
during and after the 1994 genocide. His findings led him to a crucial
conclusion that both parties to the Rwandan Civil War within which the 1994
genocide surfaced committed international crimes. This conclusion, which he
referred to as the bitter truth, deeply angered Rwandan President Paul
Kagame and his top Rwandan Patriotic Front officers and officials, and they
have thus, inevitably, become suspect in his death.
Professor Jwani Mwaikusa was renowned far beyond the borders of his native
Tanzania . Here he consults with the law faculty at the University of Cape
Town .
Professor Mwaikusa often argued that by not prosecuting Rwanda Patriotic
Front/Army (RPF/A) senior officers who allegedly committed crimes, the ICTR
was acting in contravention of its own founding treaty. He insisted that
there is overwhelming evidence, collected by private investigator and former
ICTR Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte for RPF/A senior officers to be prosecuted
by the ICTR before the court closes. He did not mince words about the Kagame
regimes political meddling into the International Court s affairs and
administration of justice in particular, and warned that the ICTR risks
leaving a legacy of victor over vanquished justice. The liberty with which
the Rwandan regime exerted pressure on the ICTR meant, in his view, that
international justice was being replaced by international politics and
diplomacy.
When Kagames government jailed Professor Peter Erlinder, Professor Jwani
Mwaikusa spoke out. He condemned the move and said that it was a strategy
to deprive the ICTR of independent defense attorneys. Professor Mwaikusa
worried that it would be a matter of time before he too would be in a
Rwandan jail for the same reason. Now we can only speculate as to whether he
had any premonition that his own fate would be even more harsh and final, or
that a nephew and a neighbor would both die attempting to come to his
defense.
In a landmark case at the ICTR in which the Kigali regime and the prosecutor
at the ICTR sought to transfer some of the ICTRs cases to Rwanda, Professor
Jwani Mwaikusa convinced the court that the defendants had no chance of a
fair trial in Rwanda. He also successfully argued that the regime in Rwanda
lacked the moral authority to try its former political rivals because there
is too much evidence that leaders in the Kigali regime are guilty of the
same crimes.
University of Dar es Salaam Law Professor Jwani Mwaikusa was assassinated in
Dar es Salaam on July 14. He taught constitutional development and practice,
human rights, including community rights, democratic governance, land rights
and environmental law. The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR)
is headquarted in Arusha , Tanzania . - Photo: U.S. State Department
Professor Jwani Mwaikusa accused the Kagame regime of twisting the terms of
the U.N. resolution that instituted the ICTR. He argued that the U.N.
Security Council used the term Rwandan Genocide knowing that extremists
from both of the two rival ethnic groups committed atrocities against the
other, but that the Kagame regime uses the term Tutsi genocide to water
down the regimes role in the atrocities.
Robbery gone wrong is not an option in the professors assassination
because the assassins did not part with anything of monetary value. The
assassins parted with ICTR case-related documents. By coincidence or design,
the manner in which Professor Jwani Mwaikusa was assassinated is not
different from the way some other critics of the Kagame regime met their
death. Seth Sindashonga and Major Theoneste Lizinde, both strong critics of
the Kigali regime, were assassinated in 1998. The two had sought refuge in
Kenya . Journalist Jean Leonard Rugambage was assassinated on June 24 after
writing that Kagame had ordered the assassination attempt on Rwandan exile
Gen. Kayumba Nyamwasa. A week later, Professor Mwaikusa, a strong critic of
the Kigali regime, was gunned down. On the same day, Democratic Green Party
of Rwanda Vice President Andre Kagwa Rwisereka was beheaded near Butare in
southern Rwanda .
The perpetrators remain unknown, but the United Nations secretary general,
on July 15, called for an investigation into the deaths of Jean Leonard
Rugambage and Andre Kagwa Rwisereka. He has not yet ordered an inquiry into
Professor Mwaikusas assassination, but one is certainly called for,
discomfiting as the truth may be to some of the worlds most powerful
people.
*Professor Charles Kambanda is an American of Rwandan origin and a former
professor of law, business and philosophy at Makarere University in Kigali ,
Rwanda , where both the Umuseso newspaper editor and Democratic Green Party
of Rwanda President Frank Habineza were his students. He was once a member
of Rwandans ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front Party. He first met Professor
Jwani Mwaikusa in 2001 when they were both teaching at the University of Dar
es Salaam and they remained friends from that time on. Professor Kambanda is
now involved in research on Rwanda s ongoing social and political conflict.
He can be reached at
kambacha@yahoo.com<http://us.mc1124.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=kambacha@yahoo.com>.
On the morning of July 15, I spoke to William Mitchell Law Professor and
international criminal defense attorney Peter Erlinder about the grisly
assassination of Democratic Green Party of Rwanda Vice President Andre Kagwa
Kwisereka. Kwisereka was found beheaded, with a machete left nearby, near
Butare , Rwanda , on July 13, 26 days after Professor Erlinders release in
Rwanda , where Rwandan President Paul Kagames regime had arrested and
incarcerated him for three weeks. Erlinder had traveled to Rwanda to defend
Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza, Rwandas FDU-Inkingi party leader and
presidential candidate, only to be arrested and accused of genocide
ideology, which means disagreeing with Rwandas official history of the
1994 Rwanda Genocide and/or with the regime of Rwandan President Paul
Kagame.
Professor Jwani Mwaikusa headed the Department of Constitutional and
Administrative Law at the University of Dar Es Salaam .
When I told Professor Erlinder about Andre Kagwa Kwiserekas assassination,
he said, Yes, and an ICTR [International Criminal Tribunal on Rwanda ]
defense attorney, Professor Jwani Mwaikusa , was just assassinated, too, in
Dar es Salaam .
He also said:
*No one knows for sure whether he was assassinated by Rwandan Patriotic
Front operatives, but we do know that lawyers put themselves in danger by
defending people whom the RPF have identified as their enemies.*
Professor Erlinder put himself in great danger by traveling to Rwanda , and
says that he would have been disappeared had he not sat down, started
hollering, demanded to speak to the U.S. Embassy, and made the sort of scene
that white Americans feel empowered to make, in the Kigali hotel where he
had been arrested. Professor Mwaikusa, however, put himself in far more
danger and paid the ultimate final price, along with a nephew and neighbor
who attempted to come to his defense.
Law Professors Peter Erlinder and Jwani Mwaikusa both served as defense
attorneys for the International Criminal Tribunal on Rwanda (ICTR).
Professor Erlinder and Professor Mwaikusa were both towering, world renowned
legal scholars, teachers and human rights defenders, but Professor Erlinder
was an American who survived, Professor Mukwaisa an African who paid with
his life. His assassins no doubt knew that, though their stature and
accomplishments were similar, the international outcry and consequence would
not compare.
As U.S. citizens, we are complicit in Professor Mwaikusas death because
President Paul Kagames Rwanda is the highest per capita recipient of U.S.
aid in Africa .
Thanks to Professor Charles Kambanda for sharing his thoughts on Professor
Mwaikusa and his legacy. *Ann Garrison*
Professor Jwani Mwaikusa : Martyr for truth
*by Charles Kambanda*
The identity, motive and/or sponsors of Professor Jwani Mwaikusa s
assassins, in Dar es Salaam , Tanzania , may remain unknown, meaning
unproven, for some time, but Professor Mwaikusas friends and colleagues
know that whoever was responsible deprived the legal fraternity and the
entire human race of an irreplaceable, independent and incorruptible mind.
We will remember his extensive knowledge of philosophy and law, his both
Cartesian and naturalist legal theory, his deep humanity, his great sense of
humor and his courageous, landmark work at the International Criminal
Tribunal on Rwanda (ICTR). Professor Mwaikusa contributed much of his
valuable time to defending the accused at the ICTR. His concise and precise
objections to any inadmissible evidence or testimony was his unique
contribution. The quality of his research in preparation for his court
appearances will also remain an ICTR landmark.
In order to defend his clients, Professor Jwani Mwaikusa , a Tanzanian by
birth, inquired into Rwanda s social and political environment prior,
during and after the 1994 genocide. His findings led him to a crucial
conclusion that both parties to the Rwandan Civil War within which the 1994
genocide surfaced committed international crimes. This conclusion, which he
referred to as the bitter truth, deeply angered Rwandan President Paul
Kagame and his top Rwandan Patriotic Front officers and officials, and they
have thus, inevitably, become suspect in his death.
Professor Jwani Mwaikusa was renowned far beyond the borders of his native
Tanzania . Here he consults with the law faculty at the University of Cape
Town .
Professor Mwaikusa often argued that by not prosecuting Rwanda Patriotic
Front/Army (RPF/A) senior officers who allegedly committed crimes, the ICTR
was acting in contravention of its own founding treaty. He insisted that
there is overwhelming evidence, collected by private investigator and former
ICTR Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte for RPF/A senior officers to be prosecuted
by the ICTR before the court closes. He did not mince words about the Kagame
regimes political meddling into the International Court s affairs and
administration of justice in particular, and warned that the ICTR risks
leaving a legacy of victor over vanquished justice. The liberty with which
the Rwandan regime exerted pressure on the ICTR meant, in his view, that
international justice was being replaced by international politics and
diplomacy.
When Kagames government jailed Professor Peter Erlinder, Professor Jwani
Mwaikusa spoke out. He condemned the move and said that it was a strategy
to deprive the ICTR of independent defense attorneys. Professor Mwaikusa
worried that it would be a matter of time before he too would be in a
Rwandan jail for the same reason. Now we can only speculate as to whether he
had any premonition that his own fate would be even more harsh and final, or
that a nephew and a neighbor would both die attempting to come to his
defense.
In a landmark case at the ICTR in which the Kigali regime and the prosecutor
at the ICTR sought to transfer some of the ICTRs cases to Rwanda, Professor
Jwani Mwaikusa convinced the court that the defendants had no chance of a
fair trial in Rwanda. He also successfully argued that the regime in Rwanda
lacked the moral authority to try its former political rivals because there
is too much evidence that leaders in the Kigali regime are guilty of the
same crimes.
University of Dar es Salaam Law Professor Jwani Mwaikusa was assassinated in
Dar es Salaam on July 14. He taught constitutional development and practice,
human rights, including community rights, democratic governance, land rights
and environmental law. The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR)
is headquarted in Arusha , Tanzania . - Photo: U.S. State Department
Professor Jwani Mwaikusa accused the Kagame regime of twisting the terms of
the U.N. resolution that instituted the ICTR. He argued that the U.N.
Security Council used the term Rwandan Genocide knowing that extremists
from both of the two rival ethnic groups committed atrocities against the
other, but that the Kagame regime uses the term Tutsi genocide to water
down the regimes role in the atrocities.
Robbery gone wrong is not an option in the professors assassination
because the assassins did not part with anything of monetary value. The
assassins parted with ICTR case-related documents. By coincidence or design,
the manner in which Professor Jwani Mwaikusa was assassinated is not
different from the way some other critics of the Kagame regime met their
death. Seth Sindashonga and Major Theoneste Lizinde, both strong critics of
the Kigali regime, were assassinated in 1998. The two had sought refuge in
Kenya . Journalist Jean Leonard Rugambage was assassinated on June 24 after
writing that Kagame had ordered the assassination attempt on Rwandan exile
Gen. Kayumba Nyamwasa. A week later, Professor Mwaikusa, a strong critic of
the Kigali regime, was gunned down. On the same day, Democratic Green Party
of Rwanda Vice President Andre Kagwa Rwisereka was beheaded near Butare in
southern Rwanda .
The perpetrators remain unknown, but the United Nations secretary general,
on July 15, called for an investigation into the deaths of Jean Leonard
Rugambage and Andre Kagwa Rwisereka. He has not yet ordered an inquiry into
Professor Mwaikusas assassination, but one is certainly called for,
discomfiting as the truth may be to some of the worlds most powerful
people.
*Professor Charles Kambanda is an American of Rwandan origin and a former
professor of law, business and philosophy at Makarere University in Kigali ,
Rwanda , where both the Umuseso newspaper editor and Democratic Green Party
of Rwanda President Frank Habineza were his students. He was once a member
of Rwandans ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front Party. He first met Professor
Jwani Mwaikusa in 2001 when they were both teaching at the University of Dar
es Salaam and they remained friends from that time on. Professor Kambanda is
now involved in research on Rwanda s ongoing social and political conflict.
He can be reached at
kambacha@yahoo.com<http://us.mc1124.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=kambacha@yahoo.com>.
