He was convicted by a Kigali Supreme Court of involvement in a rebel group found responsible for deadly gun, grenade and arson attacks in Rwanda in 2018 and 2019.
Published: September 21, 2021 10:50 AM |
Last updated: September 21, 2021 13:59
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Paul Rusesabagina, credited with saving more than 1,000 people by sheltering them during the genocide, attends a court hearing in Kigali. (Photo | AP)
KIGALI (RUANDA): Paul Rusesabagina, the hero of « Hotel Rwanda » who has become a harsh critic of the government, was sentenced to 25 years in prison on Monday for terrorism charges after his supporters made a political statement motivated show trial.
He was convicted by a Kigali Supreme Court of involvement in a rebel group found responsible 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. » That’s what Beatrice Mukamurenzi said at the end of a seven-month trial.
The Rwandan public prosecutor had requested life imprisonment for the 67-year-old former hotelier, who saved over 1,200 lives during the 1994 genocide in the country and whose actions inspired the Hollywood film .
But Mukamurenzi said the sentence « should be reduced to 25 years » since it was his first conviction. Neither Rusesabagina nor his lawyers have been in court over the verdict before which his family – who raised health concerns – warned that he might die in prison.
The 20 co-defendants, handcuffed and pink prison uniforms on trial appeared, were sentenced to between three and 20 years in prison.
Rusesabagina, who used his fame to denounce the Rwandan leader Paul Kagame as a dictator, has been behind bars since his arrest in August 2020 as an airplane from which he was believed it went to Burundi, ended up in Kigali instead.
His family say Rusesabagina was kidnapped and rejected the nine charges against him as revenge by a vengeful government for his outspoken views. Earlier this month, Kagame denied criticism of the case, saying Rusesabagina was in the dock not because of his fame but because of the lives lost « because of his actions ».
The trial opened in February, but the Belgian citizen and US green card holders have boycotted him since March, accusing the court of « injustice and lack of independence ». The United States – which awarded Rusesabagina the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2005 – as well as other governments and human rights groups had raised concerns about his transfer to Rwanda. Washington and Brussels said Monday they were concerned that Rusesabagina was denied a fair trial became. « The reported lack of guarantees of a fair trial calls into question the fairness of the verdict, » US State Department spokesman Ned Price said in a statement, citing Rusesabagina’s objections to access to his lawyers.
The Belgian Foreign Ministry said that « Despite the appeals from Brussels, Rusesabagina did not benefit from a fair and just trial. The presumption of innocence was also not respected. These elements de facto call into question the trial and the verdict. »
Kagame’s government Rusesabagina accused of belonging to the National Liberation Front (FLN), a rebel group held responsible for attacks in 2018 and 2019 that killed nine people. He denied any involvement in the attacks, but was a co-founder of the Rwandan Movement for Democratic Change (MRCD), an opposition group whose armed wing is the FLN. « MRCD-FLN has committed terrorist attacks. MRCD cannot be separated from military activities, » said Judge Mukamurenzi.
During the trial, his co-defendants made contradicting statements about the extent of Rusesabagina’s involvement in the FLN and its fighters . The Kigali government welcomed the verdict, and spokeswoman Yolande Makolo tweeted, « The evidence against the defendants has been indisputable and Rwandans will feel more secure after justice comes. »
Rusesabagina was the hotel’s former manager des Mille Collines in Kigali, where it hosted hundreds of guests during the genocide that killed 800,000 people, mostly ethnic Tutsis. A decade later, American actor Don Cheadle starred Rusesabagina, a moderate Hutu, in the Oscar-nominated blockbuster that brought his story to an international audience.
Rusesabagina soon became disaffected with the new Tutsi-dominated government led by Kagame, the rebel leader who became president, whose troops ended the mass murders. He accused Kagame of authoritarian tendencies and left Rwanda in 1996, lived in Belgium and then in the USA.
He used his global platform to campaign for political change in Kigali and forged close relationships with opposition groups in exile. His family, who campaigned for his release around the world, said Rusesabagina was a political prisoner and accused the authorities of torturing him in custody.
« The judges decided what the dictator wanted from them, us expected just that, « Rusesabagina’s daughter Carine Kanimba told AFP, later adding that his old age » equated the punishment with a death sentence. » « We fear my father will be killed in prison, » she said.
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