A year and a half after the internationally criticized sentencing of Rwandan opposition politician Paul Rusesabagina to 25 years in prison, the 68-year-old has been released from prison. As a representative of the US government announced, the Rusesabagina, which became known worldwide through the movie “Hotel Rwanda”, was handed over to the ambassador of Qatar late Friday evening. He will return to his country of exile, the US, via Qatar. The decision was welcomed internationally.
Rusesabagina had spent a total of 939 days in prison. He was arrested in Rwanda in August 2020 when his plane bound for Burundi was diverted to neighboring Rwanda. The UN had criticized this procedure as “kidnapping”. In September 2021, he was sentenced to 25 years in prison for “terrorism” in a controversial trial. The prosecution had accused him of supporting an armed rebel group.
Reports of torture in detention
Negotiations for the release of the opposition politician began in late 2022 and talks between Rwandan President Paul Kagame and the Emir of Qatar broke through last week, a source familiar with the matter said. Two weeks ago, Kagame promised to investigate a solution in the case of the government critic.
Rusesabagina is in poor health and, according to his family, was tortured in custody. The jail terms of the 68-year-old and the 19 co-defendants in his trial have now been “commuted” by order of the president, Rwandan government spokeswoman Yokande Makolo said.
However, Justice Minister Emmanuel Ugirashebuja warned that “commuting the sentence does not reverse the underlying conviction”. The other detainees were due to be released on Saturday, according to a government source who wished to remain anonymous.
More than 1200 people saved during genocide
Rusesabagina gained international fame through the 2004 film “Hotel Rwanda”. It is about the genocide in Rwanda in 1994, when about 800,000 people died, mainly members of the Tutsi ethnic group. Rusesabagina saved the lives of more than 1,200 people as director of a luxury hotel in the capital Kigali. Together with his wife, he managed to stop the genocidal Hutu Interahamwe militias from using money to murder the hotel residents and from serving alcohol.
Rusesabagina later became an outspoken critic of Kagame, who has ruled the country since the end of the genocide, and founded his own party. Since 1996, Rusesabagina has lived in exile in Belgium and the US. US President Joe Biden spoke of a “happy ending”. He shares “the joy of today’s good news” with Rusesabagina’s family.
US Secretary of State: “Relief”
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken thanked Rwanda for its release. “It is a relief to know that Paul will be reunited with his family,” said Blinken. He thanked Qatar for the “valuable support”. “The US believes in a peaceful and prosperous Rwanda,” Blinken said.
Kagame spokeswoman Stephanie Nyombayire wrote on Twitter that the release was “the result of a shared desire to restart US-Rwanda relations”. The United States declared last year that “Rusesabagina is unjustly detained”. Belgium, whose citizenship Rusesabagina holds, also criticized the trial against him. Belgian Foreign Minister Hadja Lahbib welcomed “the decision of the Rwandan government”.
The Rwandan regime rules with an iron fist
Rusesabagina’s release would “close a case that has highlighted Rwanda’s blatant disregard for international norms,” Lewis Mudge, director of Human Rights Watch Central Africa, told AFP on Saturday. Human rights groups accuse Rwanda and its heavy-handed ruler Kagame of suppressing freedom of expression and opposition. In order to secure his release, Rusesabagina pledged in October 2022 in a leniency application that he would no longer be politically involved in Rwanda until the end of his life.
Source: Krone
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