Wife of law professor jailed in Rwanda turns to UN
The wife of a Minnesota law professor jailed in Rwanda is going to the United Nations to work for his release.
Masako Usui of St. Paul plans to meet with Security Council members this week to ask them to urge Rwanda to free him and drop all charges. Her husband, Peter Erlinder, was arrested May 28 and charged with denying Rwanda's 1994 genocide and publishing articles that threaten the east African country's security.
Erlinder has pleaded not guilty. He doesn't deny mass violence happened but says it's wrong to blame just one side.
Erlinder is a professor at the William Mitchell College of Law and lead defense attorney for the U.N. International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, which is prosecuting Rwandans charged with involvement in the mass killings.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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