The Rwandan Court of Appeal confirmed, on April 4, the 25-year prison sentence for “terrorism” of the Rwandan opponent, made famous by the film “Hotel Rwanda”. The prosecution had requested life imprisonment.
© Muhizi Olivier/AP/SIPA
Paul Rusesabagina attends a court hearing in Kigali, Rwanda, February 26, 2021.
His chair remained empty, as since the start of his appeal trial. But Paul Rusesabagina, who had already boycotted most of the first instance trial after which he was sentenced to 25 years in prison for acts of terrorismsaw his sentence confirmed on appeal, this April 4.
The prosecution, which had requested life imprisonment, had appealed, wishing to see his sentence increased. “Given that Paul Rusesabagina is a first-time offender, the court considers that his sentence should not be increased because the 25 years he has obtained are in line with the weight of his crimes and the court maintains his sentence,” said the Judge François-Regis Rukundakuvuga after a day of hearing. The prosecutor’s office had also appealed the sentences – from 3 to 20 years in prison – pronounced against his twenty co-defendants.
To read Paul Rusesabagina trial: from Hollywood to the dock, the former hero of Hotel Rwanda faces justice
Terrorism
Former director of the Hotel des Mille Collines, propelled to the rank of “hero” thanks to the movie Rwanda Hotelwhich recounts the role – exaggerated, according to his detractors – that he played in the protection of nearly 1,300 Tutsi, Paul Rusesabagina had become one of the main opponents in exile of President Paul Kagame.
In exile between the United States and Belgium since 1996, he was arrested at the end of August 2020 in troubled circumstances denounced by his family. Rusesabagina was accused of several facts related to acts of “terrorism”. Co-founder of the Rwandan Movement for Democratic Change (MRCD), created in 2017, he was notably tried for acts committed by the National Liberation Forces (FLN), the armed wing of the MRCD which claimed responsibility for several attacks at the end of 2018.
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Rusesabagina, 67, and his family have always denied these accusations and denounced a trial intended to muzzle an opponent. His family, who continue to warn about his state of health, announced in mid-January that he “will not participate[ait] not to the staging of the appeal of a political prisoner”.
Also judged on appeal, Callixte Nsabimana, ex-commander and spokesperson for the FLN, was sentenced to 15 years in prison. He had been sentenced to 20 years in prison at first instance. Herman Nsengimana, another FLN spokesman, was sentenced to 7 years in prison, two more than at the end of the first trial.
(With AFP)