TWO YEARS AGO, THE UNITED NATIONS INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT FOR RWANDA, OR ICTR, CONVICTED FOUR TOP RWANDAN HUTU MILITARY OFFICERS FOR THEIR PARTICIPATION IN THE 1994 GENOCIDE, WHICH IS BELIEVED TO HAVE KILLED "800,000 TUTSIS AND MODERATE HUTUS". YET THERE ARE SOME WHO CLAIM THAT THE ICTR IS NOT A NEUTRAL BODY AND THAT IT HAS BEEN MANIPULATED, LIKE MANY INTERNATIONAL COURTS BEFORE, TO SERVE THE POLITICAL ENDS OF THE VICTORS.
AS A CONFIRMATION OF THIS SUSPICION, THE LONG AWAITED U.N. "MAPPING REPORT" INVESTIGATING WAR CRIMES AND CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY IN THE CONGOS BETWEEN 1993 AND 2003, LEAKED TO THE PRESS LAST YEAR, DIRECTLY IMPLICATED RWANDAS PRESIDENT PAUL KAGAME, WHO, AS THE COMMANDER OF THE RWANDAN PATRIOTIC FRONT OR RPF, WHICH INVADED RWANDA IN 1990, HAD UNTIL NOW BEEN CREDITED WITH SAVING RWANDAN TUTSIS FROM EXTERMINATION.
KAGAME HAS ALSO BEEN CRITICIZED BY THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION FOR SUPPRESSING DEMOCRATIC FREEDOMS DURING THE 2010 RWANDAN ELECTIONS.
ONE OF KAGAMES MAIN CRITIC IS LAW PROFESSOR PETER ERLINDER, THE ICTR LEAD DEFENSE COUNCEL, WHO, ALSO LAST YEAR, WAS ACCUSED OF GENOCIDE DENIAL BY KAGAME AND JAILED DESPITE U.N. IMMUNITY.
MR. ERLINDER WAS AT THE BRECHT FORUM IN MANHATTAN, FRIDAY, TO SPEAK ON THE TOPIC OF "PREVENTING THE FALSIFICATION OF HISTORY". WBAI FRED NGUYEN WAS THERE AND HE FILED THIS REPORT:
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