Paul Rusesabagina(Inspired Hotel Rwanda) Sentenced to 25 Years in Prison

Sinnerman

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KIGALI, Rwanda — Paul Rusesabagina, who was portrayed in the Oscar-nominated movie “Hotel Rwanda,” was found guilty on Monday of forming and funding a group that carried out terrorist attacks in Rwanda, and was sentenced to 25 years in prison. The monthslong case had drawn international condemnation after government officials boasted about having tricked him into returning to Rwanda.

Mr. Rusesabagina was once praised for sheltering more than 1,200 people in the hotel he managed during the genocide in Rwanda in 1994 that killed as many as one million people.

But he gradually became one of the most high-profile critics of Rwanda’s longtime leader, Paul Kagame, calling out the president for his increasingly repressive rule. Mr. Kagame in turn accused Mr. Rusesabagina of profiting from invented stories about his heroism and of financing armed rebel groups to overthrow his government.

Mr. Rusesabagina was tried along with 20 other defendants who were convicted, and sentenced to three to 20 years in prison, on charges that included treason, murder, arson and belonging to a terrorist organization. He received the harshest penalty of all.

Rwanda’s case against Mr. Rusesabagina was his leadership role in the Rwanda Movement for Democratic Change, a coalition of opposition groups in exile whose armed wing, the National Liberation Front (known by the initials F.L.N.), is accused of being responsible for attacks inside Rwanda that killed nine people in 2018. Prosecutors described the 20 other defendants as fighters involved in those attacks.

Yolande Makolo, a spokeswoman for the Rwandan government, said in a statement: “This lengthy trial has exposed the terrorist activities of the F.L.N. group led by Rusesabagina. The evidence against the accused was indisputable, and the people of Rwanda will feel safer now justice has been delivered. The trial has been a long and painful ordeal for the victims.”

Some of Mr. Rusesabagina’s co-defendants recanted their testimony against him, saying that he had never belonged to a rebel group or ordered attacks. Among them was Callixte Nsabimana, the armed group’s former spokesman, who was found guilty on Monday of genocide denial and of forging documents, and was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Mr. Rusesabagina had been living in Texas last year when he was deceived by Rwandan government operatives into getting on a plane in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, that took him to Kigali. He says he was initially denied access to attorneys of his choosing, held in solitary confinement and tortured in a secret detention center.

He and his lawyers say that his rights to confidential communication and to prepare his defense have been repeatedly violated.

The governments of Belgium, where Mr. Rusesabagina is a citizen, and the United States, where he is a permanent resident, criticized the trial process in statements on Monday, saying it raised questions about the outcome. “Mr. Rusesabagina did not receive a fair and due trial,” said Sophie Wilmès, Belgium’s foreign minister. “The presumption of innocence was not respected either.”


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“It’s been so painful to watch this trial,” said Carine Kanimba, Mr. Rusesabagina’s daughter, who watched the proceedings online from Belgium. “We knew they would find him guilty. The script was written long before he entered the courtroom. This verdict means nothing.”

put him in direct conflict with Kigali. In it, he wrote that Mr. Kagame governed Rwanda “for the benefit of a small group of elite Tutsis,” and that the Central African nation had “a cosmetic democracy and a hollow system of justice.”

Soon after, Rwandan officials began accusing him of exaggerating his role during the genocide, as well as of aiding rebel groups. After a series of threats and home intrusions in Brussels, he moved his family to San Antonio, Texas.

invited him to speak to churches in Burundi, Rwanda’s neighbor.

part of a setup to lure Mr. Rusesabagina to Rwanda. The private jet, operated by the Greece-based firm GainJet and paid for by the Rwandan government, landed in Kigali, where Mr. Rusesabagina was tied up, blindfolded and arrested.

For days, he was held at a location he described as a “slaughterhouse,” where he remained bound and unable to breathe properly, according to his lawyers.

Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said that the arrest amounted to an enforced disappearance, a violation of international law.

The Rwandan authorities denied that Mr. Rusesabagina had been mistreated. But they did not hide their glee in apprehending him. Rwanda’s spy chief, Maj. Gen. Joseph Nzabamwita, called it a “wonderful intelligence operation.”

The trial officially began in February after the court rejected Mr. Rusesabagina’s argument that he could not be tried in Rwanda because he was no longer a citizen. He was denied bail, though his family and lawyers said he has had cancer, heart disease and hypertension.



stop his access to food, water and medicine — a move that, they said, was meant to pressure him to return to trial. The Rwandan authorities denied doing that.

With the trial over, efforts by Western governments to pressure the Rwandan government to release Mr. Rusesabagina may gain momentum, according to those involved. President Biden is expected to see Mr. Kagame when they meet in October for a Group of 20 summit in Rome.

From Hero of ‘Hotel Rwanda,’ to Dissident, to 25-Year Prison Sentence

Do we have anyone from Rwanda on here? I'd be interested in knowing what the locals think about this
 

Sinnerman

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Anyone read this book?
 

KingSlime

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:russell:Sounds like a man only guilty of thought crimes was tried in a kangaroo court . Kagame has been president for more than 20 years, and it's naive to think he wouldn't stoop so low to retain his grip on power. I hope one day africans will stop looking up to this clown
 

Monsanto

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:russell:Sounds like a man only guilty of thought crimes was tried in a kangaroo court . Kagame has been president for more than 20 years, and it's naive to think he wouldn't stoop so low to retain his grip on power. I hope one day africans will stop looking up to this clown

Some things I've posted on from last year concerning Kagame.

:francis:

Look up a few things:

Paul Kagame and the arrest of Laurent Nkunda

Year by year exports of coltan from the Congo while he's been in power

His recent claims that they have their own mines to obtain these materials. Flying brehs out to see them.

:francis:

Exalt ideas and progress, not men.
 
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