A Rwandan court on Monday sentenced Paul Rusesabagina, the Hotel Rwanda hero, to 25 years in prison after finding him guilty of charges including terrorism, reported Reuters.
He was convicted by the High Court Special Chamber for International and Cross-Border Crimes of forming a rebel group blamed for deadly attacks in Rwanda in 2018.
“He founded a terrorist organization that attacked Rwanda, he financially contributed to terrorist activities,” Justice Beatrice Mukamurenzi said at the end of a seven-month trial.
Rusesabagina is charged with nine offenses, including being a member of a terrorist organization, financing terrorism, murder, and armed robbery. The charges are connected to a series of attacks carried out by the armed National Liberation Front (FLN) in southwestern Rwanda between June and December 2018. The attacks claimed the lives of nine civilians.
The 67-year-old former hotelier Rusesabagina has been credited with saving the lives of more than 1,200 Tutsi by giving them refuge in a hotel he managed during Rwanda’s 1994 genocide. The Hollywood film “Hotel Rwanda”, which was released in 2004, was inspired by his actions.
Rwandan prosecutors had sought a life sentence for Rusesabagina, but Justice Mukamurenzi said the penalty should be reduced to 25 years as it was his first conviction.
Rusesabagina has been behind bars since his arrest in August 2020 when a plane he believed was bound for Burundi landed instead in Kigali.
His family continues to reject all the charges against him, claiming that he is a victim of the Rwandan government’s vengeance for his outspoken views. His supporters called the trial a sham.
Earlier this month, Rwandan President Paul Kagame had dismissed criticism of the case, saying Rusesabagina was in the dock not because of his fame but over the lives lost because of his actions.
Rusesabagina is expected to appeal against the court’s ruling.
