KIGALI (Reuters) - An international court has called on Rwanda to free an American lawyer it is holding on charges of genocide denial and threatening state security, arguing that he has immunity due to his work at the court.
Peter Erlinder works at the Tanzania-based International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), set up to try those responsible for the most serious crimes committed during Rwanda's 1994 genocide. He was arrested by Rwanda in May.
He has been denied bail despite pleas from his lawyers and the U.S. State Department that he be released on health grounds.
"The ICTR hereby notifies the Rwandan authorities that Professor Erlinder enjoys immunity and requests therefore, his immediate release," the court said in a letter sent to Rwanda and seen by Reuters on Thursday.
Erlinder, who earlier this year filed a lawsuit accusing Rwandan President Paul Kagame of ordering the killings that sparked the 1994 genocide, is the first foreigner to be tried under Rwanda's 2003 anti-genocide legislation.
The ICTR said Erlinder should not have been held as Rwandan prosecutors used a statement made in a case at the international court as evidence in the case against him in Rwanda.
Rwanda's chief prosecutor, Martin Ngoga, said Erlinder's case was not related to his work at the ICTR and Kigali would seek to clarify the issue with the court, but gave no details.
Erlinder works as a defence counsel at the international court but went to Rwanda to defend outspoken presidential candidate Victoire Ingabire, who was arrested on genocide denial charges in April and later released on bail.
The U.S. lawyer has been in hospital four times since his arrest complaining of heart problems and panic attacks. He has denied the charges of questioning the genocide against Tutsis, saying his words were misinterpreted by the government.
Rights groups say the anti-genocide law is vague and used for political and personal reasons. Rwanda denies that, saying the laws are necessary to prevent a repeat of the genocide in which 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus were slaughtered.
Earlier in the week, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she understood Rwanda's security concerns.
"But I think that there are ways of dealing with that legitimate concern other than politically acting against opposition figures or lawyers and others," she told a conference in Washington.
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