Rwanda court finds 'Hotel Rwanda' hero guilty of terrorism
September 20, 2021
Paul Rusesabagina, a critic of President Paul Kagame and one-time hotel manager portrayed as a hero in a Hollywood film about the 1994 genocide, was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
Rusesabagina was put on trial after his Burundi-bound plane landed in Rwanda insteadImage: Clement Uwiringiyimana/REUTERS
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A Rwandan court on Monday said Paul Rusesabagina was guilty of terrorism-related charges and sentenced to 25 years in prison.
Rusesabagina, a prominent opponent of the Rwandan government, was accused by authorities of lending his support from abroad to a rebel group in the African country.
The 67-year-old, who is now a Belgian citizen, was credited with saving hundreds of lives during the 1994 genocide. His actions inspired Hollywood's "Hotel Rwanda" in 2004.
Belgium criticized the legal process and Rusesabagina's sentence.
"At the end of these legal proceedings and despite repeated appeals from Belgium on this matter, it must be noted that Mr. Rusesabagina did not benefit from a fair and equitable trial," Belgium's Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
The sentiment was echoed by US State Department spokesman Ned Price , who said in a statement that Washington was "concerned" by his conviction.
"The reported lack of fair trial guarantees calls into question the fairness of the verdict," Price added.
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What were the charges?
Rusesabagina was arrested in August 2020 under mysterious circumstances, after a Burundi-bound plane he boarded from the UAE instead landed in the Rwandan capital, Kigali.
The former hotelier was charged with nine offenses, including being a member of a terrorist organization, financing terrorism, murder and armed robbery.
The attacks in question, which were carried out by the local National Liberation Front (FLN) killed at least nine civilians throughout 2018.
Rusesabagina was accused of using WhatsApp from abroad to coordinate arms deals to facilitate the attacks.
100 days of slaughter: Rwanda's genocide
Rwanda's genocide began on April 7, 1994. It was a mass slaughter that shocked the world. At the time the international community — above all France and the UN — failed to come to the aid of victims.
Image: Timothy Kisambira
A signal to extremists
On April 6, 1994, unidentified attackers shot down a plane carrying Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana as it was about to land at Kigali airport. President Habyarimana, his Burundian counterpart and eight other passengers died in the crash. The next day organized killings began. Massacres continued over the course of three months, and nearly 1 million Rwandans lost their lives.
Image: AP
Targeted killings
After the assassination of the president, Hutu extremists attacked the Tutsi minority and Hutus who stood in their way. The murderers were well-prepared, and targeted human rights activists, journalists and politicians. One of the first victims on April 7 was Prime Minister Agathe Uwiringiymana.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Foreign nationals rescued
While thousands of Rwandans were being killed every day, Belgian and French special forces evacuated about 3,500 foreigners. On April 13, Belgian paratroopers rescued seven German employees and their families from Deutsche Welle's relay transmitting station in Kigali. Only 80 of 120 local staff members survived the genocide.
Image: P.Guyot/AFP/GettyImages
Appeals for help
As early as January 1994, UNAMIR commander Romeo Dallaire wanted to act on information he had received about an "anti-Tutsi extermination" plot. The warning he sent to the UN on January 11, later known as the "genocide fax," went unheard. And his desperate appeals after the genocide began were rejected by Kofi Annan, who was Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations at the time.
Image: A.Joe/AFP/GettyImages
Hate media
The Mille Collines radio station (RTLM) and Kangura, a weekly magazine, stoked ethnic hatred. In 1990, Kangura published the racist "Hutu Ten Commandments." Mille Collines radio, which was known for its pop music and sports programs, fueled the genocide by urging Hutu civilians to hunt down and kill Tutsis. Director Milo Rau devoted his film "Hate Radio" to these appalling broadcasts (photo).
Image: IIPM/Daniel Seiffert
Refuge in a hotel
In Kigali, Paul Rusesabagina hid more than 1,000 people in the Hotel Des Mille Collines. Rusesabagina had taken over the position of the hotel's Belgian manager, who left the country. With a great deal of alcohol and money, he managed to prevent Hutu militias from killing the refugees. In many other places where people sought refuge, they were not able to escape the slaughter.
Image: Gianluigi Guercia/AFP/GettyImages
Massacres in churches
Churches were no longer sanctuaries. About 4,000 men, women and children were murdered with axes, knives and machetes in the church of Ntarama near Kigali. Today, the church is one of the country's many genocide memorials. Rows of skulls, human bones as well as bullet marks in the walls are a reminder of what happened there.
Image: epd
France's role
The French government maintained close ties to the Hutu regime. When the French army intervened in June, it enabled soldiers and militiamen responsible for the genocide to flee to Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of Congo, and even take their weapons with them. They still pose a threat to Rwanda today.
Image: P.Guyot/AFP/GettyImages
Streams of refugees
During the genocide, millions of Rwandan Tutsis and Hutus fled to Tanzania, Zaire and Uganda. Some 2 million of them went to Zaire alone. These included former members of the army and perpetrators of the genocide, who soon founded the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), a militia that is still terrorizing the population in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo today.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Capture of the capital
On July 4, 1994, rebels from the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) patrolled the area around the Church of the Holy Family in Kigali. By that time, they had liberated most of the country and routed the perpetrators of the genocide. However, human rights activists also accused the rebels of committing crimes, for which no one has been held accountable to this day.
Image: Alexander Joe/AFP/GettyImages
End of the genocide
On July 18, 1994, the RPF's leader, Major General Paul Kagame, declared that the war against the government troops was over. The rebels were in control of the capital and other important towns. Initially, they installed a provisional government. Paul Kagame became Rwanda's president in the year 2000.
Image: Alexander Joe/AFP/GettyImages
Lasting scars
The genocide went on for almost three months. The victims were often slaughtered with machetes. Neighbors killed neighbors. Not even babies and elderly people were spared, and the streets were strewn with corpses and body parts. It's not only the physical scars on the bodies of the survivors that remind Rwandans of the genocide. A deep trauma also remains.
Image: Timothy Kisambira
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Who is Paul Rusesabagina?
Rusesabagina became a global celebrity after the 2004 film.
The Hollywood movie was inspired by Rusesabagina's role as the former manager of the Hotel des Mille Collines in Kigali, where he sheltered hundreds of guests from ethnic persecution during the genocide.
After growing critical of Kagame's rule in Rwanda, he left the country in 1996, residing first in Belgium and then the US.
While abroad, he used his global platform to advocate for political change in Kigali.
Rusesabagina founded the Rwandan Movement for Democratic Change (MRCD), an opposition group of which the FLN is seen as the armed wing.
Rwanda: Children of genocide grapple with horrors of past
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Rusesabagina and his family members have repeatedly denied any involvement in the attacks.
The trial of Rusesabagina, along with 20 others, began in February, six months after his arrest.
What did his daughter and lawyer say?
His daughter, Carine Kanimba, promised to continue fighting for her father's release: "This verdict means nothing, the feelings for us remain the same", she told DW.
"My father was illegally detained before this verdict, he is still illegally detained."
She added that her father was kidnapped and still has no access to his international legal team. "We will continue the campaign, we hope that other political measures will be taken, my father is a political prisoner, we need a solution to his problem."
Vincent Lurquin, his attorney in Brussels, was denied a permit to defend him in Rwanda.
"It is a trial that was written in advance," he told DW. "So we are dealing with a process that seems more formal, more political than legal," Lurquin added.
"We are not saying that there is nothing in the record, we are not asking that he be acquitted. We are just asking that he be sentenced according to the normal rules of judicial law, which was not the case."
