Rwanda’s founder, Paul Rusesabagina, to be released

After his 25 year sentence on terrorism charges was commuted, Paul Rusesabagina, a businessman who saved more than 1,000 lives during the 1994 Rwandan genocide, inspired the film Hotel Rwanda.

Rusesabagina has permanent residency rights in the U.S., following intense diplomacy by the Rwandan government. The case has been strained between the two countries, and Rwanda is accused of meddling in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Rusesabagina was sentenced in September 2021 for his ties to an organisation opposed to President Paul Kagame's rule. He denied all the charges and refused to take part in the trial that he and his supporters called a political sham.

Washington labeled him as wrongly detained because of the lack of fair trial guarantees.

The former hotelier s release may help to calm tensions with the US, which has repeatedly called for Rwanda to cease its support of the M 23 armed group and withdraw its troops from neighbouring Congo. Rusesabagina is expected to be released on Saturday alongside 19 others whose sentences were commuted by presidential order after requests for clemency, said Yolande Makolo, Rwanda s government spokesperson.

The commutation of sentence under Rwandan law does not extinguish the conviction, Makolo said. Rwanda notes the constructive role of the US government in creating conditions for dialogue on this issue, as well as the facilitation provided by the state of Qatar. Rusesabagina will be flown initially to Doha, where his family can join him, and then on to the US, according to the online media platform Semaphor.

Rusesabagina, a vocal critic of Kagame, acknowledged having a leadership role in an opposition group called the Rwanda Movement for Democratic Change MRCD, but denied responsibility for attacks carried out on Rwanda by its armed wing, the Forces for National Liberation FLN The trial judges said the two wings of the group were indistinguishable.

Rusesabagina wrote a 14 October letter to Kagame, which was seen by Reuters and regrets not taking more care to ensure that members of the MRCD coalition adhere to the principles of non violence.

If I am granted a pardon and released, I understand fully that I will spend the rest of my days in the United States in quiet reflection, he wrote.

The spokesperson for FLN said that Callixte Nsabimana, who was convicted in a Rwandan court in 2019 of terrorism, murder and hostage-taking, will be among those who will be released.

Earlier this month, Kagame said there were discussions about resolving the fate of Rusesabagina.