KIGALI, Rwanda--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The following letter is from 137 Survivors of the 1994 Rwandan Genocide and IBUKA Association:

On behalf of our mothers and fathers, our grandparents and neighbors, our cousins, friends and neighbors who were among more than one million victims of the 1994 Rwandan genocide, we urge the United States Congress in the strongest possible terms to reject HR #1426.

This motion, referred to the House Foreign Relations Committee, calls for the release of Peter Erlinder, a genocide denier who has been arrested and held for breach of Rwanda’s genocide ideology and security laws.

The motion before the House of Representatives invokes “humanitarian grounds” for Mr. Erlinder’s release. It asks for Rwandan Government to honor his rights and freedoms as a US citizen but makes no mention of rights and freedoms of the Rwandan people, least of all genocide survivors such as we, the undersigned.

That the term “humanitarian” is applied in this context – in defense of a man who has built a career from denying the genocide that killed our loved ones and from which we narrowly escaped – is a cruel irony. The Rwandan genocide was a humanitarian catastrophe on an unimaginable scale, marked by the tragic failure of the international community to intervene.

We are also struck by concerns raised in HR#1426 about rights and freedoms. In Rwanda, we have decided that freedom of speech does not include the right to spread lies about the genocide. In Europe, similar crimes exist for Holocaust denial. Civil libertarians in the US may disagree with these laws, but the Rwandan people believe they are necessary to preserve the hard-won peace and stability of our nation.

We have known of Mr. Erlinder for many years because he has actively and publicly advocated the view that the 1994 genocide did not occur. In his strange, revisionist view of these events, what took place was merely a collection of random, unrelated "civilian" killings. He once said that to blame the Hutu for the Tutsi genocide is like blaming the Japanese for Hiroshima. He invariably places the word genocide in quotation marks, a small but unmistakable insult to the Rwandan people. He organized a Conference as recently as last month in Brussels that featured a known genocide fugitive as a keynote speaker.

His writings and activism provide motivation and comfort to militia in neighboring countries that await the chance to reignite genocide. These terrorists (defined as such by the UN and the US Government) embrace Mr. Erlinder because he gives a veneer of academic credibility to their extremist, violent and hateful beliefs. Their mission is to bring the horrors of 1994 back to life, and Mr. Erlinder is their amateur historian of choice.

Genocide ideology, the belief that whole ethnic groups should be wiped from the face of the earth, did not end with the liberation of Kigali.

In building a peaceful and stable, Rwanda, genocide survivors have put aside the natural desire to avenge the slaughter of our loved ones. We have embraced unity and reconciliation as the only way forward for all Rwandans, whatever ethnicity, gender or religion. 1.5 million people involved in the genocide have been processed through our own Gacaca justice process, a system that has won accolades around the world.

But this does not mean that we turn a blind eye to those who want to deny or defend the genocide, whether in academic journals or at the end of a gun. We have learned in the hardest way imaginable that genocide does not begin in a vacuum -- it starts with the voices of rational seeming men telling lies and distorting history.

Mr. Erlinder is one such man.

The United States has been a great friend of Rwanda since the genocide came to an end. We believe that this relationship will grow and prosper to the great benefit to the both countries for many years to come.

As survivors of the genocide, we urge the United States Congress to consider the freedom of the Rwandan people to live in peace and prosperity, and weigh this against Mr. Erlinder’s freedom to promote lies and distortions.

We ask that you weigh our right to enforce laws supported overwhelmingly by Rwandans against Mr. Erlinder’s right to deliberately and repeatedly violate them.

We ask that you apply your humanitarian compassion not just to Mr. Erlinder’s predicament, but to the memory of the Rwandans who were slaughtered in the spring of 1994 in a horrific genocide that he claims did not take place.

Just as we respect US laws and its political system, we ask that you respect ours – and understand that the arrest of Peter Erlinder is an act of reconciliation and healing for Rwanda, as we reach for a future of unity, peace and justice.

About IBUKA Association

IBUKA is a Rwandan independent and non-profit genocide-survivors' umbrella organization. It was formed in 1995 and has 30 survivors' member associations.

Tel: 0255 10 34 80
Email: info@ibuka.rw
Web site: www.ibuka.rw

IBUKA a.s.b.l
PO.BOX: 625 Kigali
HeadOffice:
Nyanza Memorial site