Arthur Greene
Paul Rusesabagina, once hailed for saving the lives of over 1,200 people during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for terror related charges.
Rusesabagina, 67, was found guilty of founding and financing an armed group which was blamed for attacks in south western Rwanda which killed nine people in 2018.
However, he boycotted the trial, calling it a “sham”, and many governments and human rights groups have complained that he did not receive a fair trial.
Rusesabagina became a national hero after sheltering more than 1,200 people in the hotel which he ran in Kigali during the genocide in 1994.
His actions became the subject of Hotel Rwanda, an Oscar-nominated Hollywood film, bringing him international fame.
But the national hero soon became an enemy of the state after he grew increasingly critical of Paul Kagame’s government.
Rusesabagina accused the Tutsi-led regime of committing human rights abuses and of ordering the killing of Hutus in the years following the genocide.
He left the country in 1996 and remained in exile until September 2020, when Rwandan authorities lured him onto a plane in Dubai which he believed was heading to Burundi.
Instead it landed in Rwanda, whereupon the former hotel manager was immediately arrested.
Rusesabagina’s supporters had little doubt that he would be convicted, and on Monday, he was found guilty.
“Rusesabagina is guilty of being a member of a terror group and participating in terror activities,” judge Beatrice Mukamurenzi said. “His act of terrorism led to death.”
However, Rusesabagina’s family and the international community have dismissed the ruling.
Rusesabagina’s daughter, Carine Kanimba, called for her father’s immediate release and said his “charges are completely invented.”
“He was dragged across international borders in violation of international law. My father knows that his rights were violated … that’s why he decided to step out of the trial,” she told Al Jazeera.
Belgium’s Foreign Minister Sophie Wilmes said in a statement that “Mr Rusesabagina did not benefit from a fair and equitable trial; particularly with regard to the rights of the defence.”
Image source: @nytimes
