Arusha, June 7, 2010 (FH) -  A tribunal in Kigali "granted on Monday the prosecutor's motion to further Peter Erlinder's detention for another thirty days", his Kenyan attorney Kennedy Ogetto told Hirondelle News agency on the phone.

Appearing before the court since Friday for a preliminary hearing, the American lawyer "has been denied bail", on grounds that the charges were serious and this was the only way to ensure the accused would not escape.

His defence team announced its intention to immediately file an appeal against the decision before the High court.

Peter Erlinder was arrested on May 28 over accusations related to "negation of the 1994 genocide".

He is President of the ICTR defence lawyers association in Arusha. He is currently defending former major Aloys Ntabakuze, who has been sentenced by the ICTR to life in jail in by the lower court and is now awaiting his appeal trial.

The American lawyer had been in Kigali for a week to be part of the defence team of Victoire Ingabire. An opponent to Paul Kagame's regime,  she is charged with negation of the genocide, collaboration to a terrorist organization and spreading ethnic division.

ER/GF

© Hirondelle News Agency