© AP – Muhizi Olivier
Paul Rusesabagina in Kigali court, February 26, 2021.
In Rwanda, the appeal trial in the Paul Rusesabagina case began on Monday. Last September, the 68-year-old opponent was sentenced to 25 years in prison for terrorism, but the prosecutor’s office, which had sought life imprisonment, appealed.
With our correspondent in Kigali, Laure Broulard
During the first hearing in second instance, this Monday, the former manager of the Hotel des Mille Collines was once again conspicuous by his absence. Once again, the chair Paul Rusesabagina thus remained empty. The opponent had begun to boycott the proceedings shortly after the start of his trial at first instance, in March 2021, believing that his rights were not respected.
Last Friday, his relatives announced that he would not attend the appeal trial either, denouncing a real staging intended to harm a political prisoner. The court therefore debated the possibility of continuing the proceedings without him, because in this case, around twenty other defendants, considered to be members of the FLN rebel group, are also back in court.
Like Paul Rusesabagina, they are accused of being involved, directly or indirectly, in several attacks perpetrated in southern Rwanda in 2018 and 2019. These attacks left around ten people dead. They had been sentenced at first instance to terms of between 3 and 20 years in prison. And for them, as for Paul Rusesabagina, the prosecutor seems to want a more severe verdict, even if he has not yet presented his requisitions.
This Monday, in any case, the hearing was quickly suspended and it will be tomorrow Tuesday that the Court of Appeal should rule on the continuation of the procedure in the absence of the main accused.