(CNN) Paul Rusesabagina, who inspired the Hollywood film Hotel Rwanda and was sentenced to prison in Rwanda, was commuted by the country’s President Paul Kagame after his plea for clemency, officials in Rwanda said on Friday.
Rusesabagina was found guilty in September 2021 in connection with terrorism and sentenced to 25 years in prison.
“The commutation of the sentence does not erase the underlying conviction,” government spokeswoman Yolande Makolo said on Friday.
Rusesabagina before the Rwandan Supreme Court in February 2021.
“Rwanda notes the constructive role of the US government in creating conditions for dialogue on this issue, as well as the support of the State of Qatar,” she added.
Rusesabagina, who is both a Rwandan and Belgian citizen and lives in the United States, will be released on Saturday along with 19 other people convicted with him, Makolo told CNN.
Rusesabagina will be transferred to Qatar after his release, Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman Majid Al-Ansari said in a statement on Friday.
“He will then travel to the United States of America,” Al-Ansari added.
Rusesabagina was arrested by Rwandan authorities while traveling internationally in 2020, in what his family described as kidnapping.
“We are delighted with the news of Paul’s release. The family hopes to reunite with him soon,” a spokesman for Rusesabagina’s family told CNN.
At his 2021 trial, Rusesabagina was found guilty of being a member of a terrorist group called MRCD-FLN. According to a government statement, the focus was on two attacks in 2018 that killed nine people.
However, the Clooney Foundation for Justice called the verdict a “show trial” and claimed that Rusesabagina’s conviction lacked sufficient guarantees of fairness “required by international and African standards”.
He was described as wrongly imprisoned by the US State Department.
An outspoken critic of President Paul Kagame, Rusesabagina is best known for rescuing hundreds of Rwandans during the country’s genocide by accommodating them in the hotel he managed.
His story was made into the Hollywood film Hotel Rwanda, starring Don Cheadle and Sophie Okonedo.
Blinken trip to Rwanda ‘played a key role’
A US official familiar with the matter said that Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s trip to Rwanda “played a key role” in solving Rusesabagina’s case.
In his appointments with Kagame, he “discussed Paul’s case at length,” the US official said, and “they talked a lot about the roadmap for Paul’s eventual release.”
“The State Department has worked through SPEHA (the President’s special envoy for hostage matters) and other members of the interagency organization to keep it on track since the minister’s visit,” the US official said.
A US Congressman familiar with the case said Friday that Rusesabagina’s detention had become a “irritant” in US-Rwanda relations, and congressional interlocutors sought to contact the Rwandan officials both in Washington, DC and also in Kigali to make it clear that such an “irritant” would not go away until it was resolved.
US National Security Council officials were also involved in the matter and there was hope that the matter could be resolved before the US-Africa summit in December.
The Rwandan government wanted the US to recognize that a trial had taken place and that trial had resulted in Rusesabagina’s conviction, the adviser said.
The resolution drew closer as talks shifted from a discussion of guilt or innocence to trying to resolve the issue – a strategy exemplified by a letter from Rusesabagina to Kagame in October 2022, in which she um Pardon pleaded, which the congressional aide said “discussed carefully.”
In the letter, released by the Justice Ministry on Friday, Rusesabagina said he wanted to “express regret for any connection (of his) work with the MRCD to violent actions by the FLN.”
“As a former leader of the MRCD, I regret that I have not paid more attention to the MRCD coalition’s full adherence to the principles of nonviolence, which I fully believe in and have always ascribed to me,” Rusesabagina wrote .
“If I am granted a pardon and released, I fully understand that I will spend the rest of my days in the United States in quiet reflection,” he continued. “I can assure you through this letter that I otherwise have no personal or political ambitions. I will put questions about Rwandan politics behind me.”
The publication of this letter, expressing his remorse and the fact that Rwanda commuted his sentence rather than pardoned him, allowed the Rwandan government to assist in its allegation of Rusesabagina’s guilt.
“They continue to make it clear that he is a convicted terrorist,” the adviser said.
The adviser also said there was immense pressure from Congress on both the Rwandan and Biden governments on this complex matter. Rusesabagina is a legal permanent resident of the United States but not a citizen, and he was found wrongly imprisoned only last year.
American lawmakers invested in the case on Friday welcomed the news of Rusesabagina’s commuted sentence and expected release.
“Paul Rusesabagina is a hero and his unjust imprisonment was a blot on Rwanda’s progress towards a peaceful and stable future. Along with his family, friends and supporters around the world, I am overjoyed to hear the news of his imminent release and look forward to his safe return,” Democratic MP Joaquin Castro said in a statement.
“I commend U.S. and Rwandan officials for their cooperation in releasing Mr. Rusesabagina and addressing the issues surrounding his case, including those related to justice and political violence,” said Republican Senator Jim Risch. “I look forward to seeing Mr. Rusesabagina return to his family and encourage the U.S. and Rwandan governments to continue working to advance our bilateral relationship.”
This advisor downplayed Qatar’s role in securing the conversion, saying there may have been talks between Rwandan and Qatari officials, but claimed they had “no influence” on the case.