Rusebagina is credited with saving more than 1,200 lives during the 1994 genocide of Rwanda. (file)
Kigali:
Paul Rusesabagina, the “Hotel Rwanda” hero who became a fierce critic of the government, was sentenced Monday to 25 years in prison on terrorism charges after his supporters labeled a politically motivated show trial.
He was indicted by a high court in Kigali for forming a rebel group blamed for deadly gun, grenade and arson attacks in Rwanda in 2018 and 2019.
“He founded a terrorist organization that attacked Rwanda, he contributed financially to terrorist activities,” Justice Beatrice Mukamurenzi said at the end of the seven-month trial.
Rwanda’s prosecutors have sought life imprisonment for Rusesabagina, a 67-year-old former hotelier credited with saving the lives of more than 1,200 people during the country’s 1994 genocide, and whose actions inspired a Hollywood film.
But Mukamurenzi said the term “should be reduced to 25 years” as it was his first sentence.
Neither Rusebagina, whose family has raised concerns about her health, nor her lawyers were in court for the verdict. Hoping to appeal to them.
20 other defendants in the case, handcuffed and dressed in a pale pink prison uniform, attended the session.
Security forces were deployed in and around the court, which was packed with journalists and diplomats from foreign embassies.
Rusesabagina, who used his fame to oust Rwandan leader Paul Kagame as dictator, has been behind bars since his arrest in August 2020, when he was believed to be on a plane bound for Burundi. was bound, landed in Kigali instead.
His family maintains that Russabagina was kidnapped and dismissed as the withdrawal of nine charges against him by the retaliatory government for his outspoken views.
Earlier this month, President Kagame dismissed criticism of the case, saying that Rusesabagina was in the dock for lives lost “not because of his fame but because of his actions”.
– ‘Lack of freedom’ –
The trial began in February but the Belgian citizen and US green card holder boycotted it since March, accusing the court of “unfairness and lack of independence”.
The United States – which awarded Rusebagina the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2005 – are among those expressing concerns about his transfer to Rwanda and the fairness of his trial, along with the European Parliament and Belgium.
President Kagame’s government accused Rusebagina of supporting the National Liberation Front (FLN), a rebel group blamed for attacks in 2018 and 2019 that killed nine people.
He denied any involvement in the attacks, but was the founder of the Rwandan Movement for Democratic Change (MRCD), an opposition group whose FLN is seen as an armed wing.
“The MRCD-FLN committed terrorist acts. The MRCD cannot be separated from the FLN’s military acts”, Judge Mukamurenzi said.
“The court found that Rusabagina’s role in the establishment of the FLN, the provision of funds to the insurgents, the purchase of communication equipment for the insurgents, all constitute an offense of committing terrorism,” the judge said.
During the trial, her co-defendants gave conflicting testimony about the level of Rusesabagina’s involvement with the FLN and its fighters.
– disillusioned –
Rusesabagina was the former manager of the Htel des Milles Collins in Kigali, where he sheltered hundreds of guests during the massacre that killed 800,000 people, mostly ethnic Tutsi.
A decade later, American actor Don Cheadle played Rusebagina, a moderate Hutu, in the Oscar-nominated blockbuster that brought his story to an international audience.
Rusebagina soon became disillusioned with the new Tutsi-dominated government led by Kagame, the rebel leader turned president, whose army put an end to the mass killings.
He accused Kagame of authoritarian tendencies and left Rwanda in 1996, living in Belgium and then the United States.
Abroad, he used his global platform to drive political change in Kigali, and developed close ties with opposition groups in exile.
His family, which has campaigned globally for his release, says Rusesabagina is a political prisoner and accuses Rwandan authorities of torturing him in custody.
The Hotel Rwanda Foundation, which supports Rusesabagina, described the court proceedings earlier this month as a “show trial” and said the government had failed to provide any credible evidence against her.
“Paul’s family and team knew the moment he was abducted, he would be declared ‘guilty’ – no trial was required,” it said.
In July, meanwhile, an international media investigation claimed that Rusabagina’s daughter Karine Kanimba was spied on using Pegasus malware developed by the Israeli company NSO.
Investigators confirmed that a cell phone belonging to Kanimba, a US-Belgian dual national, had been tampered with multiple times.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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