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Nkundaâs Attorney Asks Rwanda to Grant Access to Client

   The attorney of Laurent Nkunda, former Congolese renegade army general
   says  he will present a letter to Rwandan President Paul Kagame Friday
   seeking access to the former rebel leader.

   Peter Clottey | Washington, DC 14 January 2010
   Congolese  and  Rwandan  children  fight  for  cookies handed out by a
   Uruguayan  United  Nations  peacekeeper  at  the  entrance  to  a U.N.
   peacekeeping  encampment  in  the  heart  of  territory  controlled by
   Rwandan Hutu rebels near village of Kimua

Photo: AP

   Congolese  and  Rwandan  children  fight  for  cookies handed out by a
   Uruguayan  United  Nations  peacekeeper  at  the  entrance  to  a U.N.
   peacekeeping  encampment  in  the  heart  of  territory  controlled by
   Rwandan  Hutu  rebels near the village of Kimua, eastern Congo, 02 Oct
   2009

   The attorney of Laurent Nkunda, former Congolese renegade army general
   says  he will present a letter to Rwandan President Paul Kagame Friday
   seeking access to the former rebel leader.

   Stephane Bourgon said he is also working closely with an international
   rights  group  to  ensure  the  former  rebel  leader's rights are not
   continually abused by the authorities in Rwanda.

   "I  have  been trying on and on by sending letters to the president of
   the  Republic  of  Rwanda, by sending letters to his ministers. All of
   these  letters  were  ignored.  So  last  night, I drafted yet another
   letter  and...today,  this  letter  will be delivered to the president
   asking  yet  again...  to see my client, which is a fundamental right,
   which my client is being deprived of," he said.

   Laurent Nkunda

   Nkunda,  who  was  formerly  the head of the National Congress for the
   Defense  of  the  People (CNDP) rebel group, was arrested last year in
   Gisenye after fleeing a joint Rwanda-Congo military operation.

   Attorney  Bourgon  said  despite  repeated requests, Rwanda has so far
   refused to grant him access to the former rebel.

   "I  have  no  clue whether this letter will make a difference. But I'm
   simply  doing  everything I can as Laurent Nkunda's attorney to get to
   see  my  client  so  I  can  discuss  with  him.  And together, we can
   establish  a  strategy  yet again to address the fact that he has been
   deprived  of  liberty without any charges... This is a total violation
   of  every  international instrument to which Rwanda is a party to, and
   this is very bad," Bourgon said.

   Nkunda's  CNDP  rebel  group  was often accused of committing numerous
   atrocities  in  eastern  Congo in recent years, including in Bukavu in
   2004  and  more recently in the North Kivu town of Kiwanja where Human
   Rights Watch documented the executions of at least 150 people.

   Bourgon  said  the  former  rebel leader has been "illegally" detained
   without charges.

   "We  would  like  to  make  sure that he is charged and that he is put
   under  trial  for  being the head of the CNDP. What the most important
   thing is today is that charges have not been pressed, whether it is in
   the  Democratic  Republic  of Congo or whether it is here in Rwanda or
   elsewhere," Bourgon said.

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