Hotel Rwanda hero Paul Rusesabagina (in a pink prison uniform) arrives on April 25.
Sentenced to 25 years in prison in September 2021 for supporting a “terrorist” group that “attacked people in their homes and in their cars,” Paul Rusesabagina, who inspired the Hollywood film Hotel Rwanda before making a famous adversary under Paul Kagame became Regime, due to be released on Saturday March 25th. His sentence was “commuted by order of the President,” Yolande Makolo, spokeswoman for the Rwandan Presidency, told Le Monde.
Paul Rusesabagina is released along with nineteen other members of the National Liberation Forces (FLN), an armed wing of the Rwandan Movement for Democratic Change (MRCD), all of whom were sentenced at the same time as him. During his trial, Mr Rusesabagina confirmed his involvement with the FLN, a group responsible for attacks that killed nine people in south-west Rwanda in 2018 and 2019, but denied any involvement in those crimes. Prosecutors relied on testimonies from other members of the group, exchanges of texts, but also on a search carried out at his home in Belgium.
At the end of 2018, the opponent also declared in a video broadcast on the Internet that he would not give up the armed struggle: “Since July, the FLN has been waging a military struggle to liberate the Rwandan people. It is imperative that we accelerate the liberation struggle in 2019, the Rwandan people can no longer endure the atrocities and all kinds of abuse inflicted on us by the regime. It is time that we use all possible means to bring about change. With all political means tried and failed, it is time to try our last resort. »
Also read: In Rwanda, opponent Paul Rusesabagina was sentenced to 25 years in prison for terrorism
Between the United States and Belgium
Paul Rusesabagina was made famous by the 2004 film Hotel Rwanda, which shows how the manager of the Hotel des Mille Collines saved more than 1,200 Tutsi in his home during the genocide that claimed one million lives in the spring of 1994. Rwanda in 1996, Mr Rusesabagina lived between the United States and Belgium because he felt the country was becoming less and less room for opposition. A longtime taxi driver, he lectured worldwide on the genocide, the Great Lakes region and Rwanda, criticizing the authoritarian regime of Paul Kagame, President since 2000. His arrest took place in August 2020 under disputed terms, as he had been arrested while getting off a private jet in Kigali when he thought he was going to Burundi.
Under Rwandan law, certain sentences can be commuted provided the offender apologizes. This judicial process was widely used in crimes related to the Tutsi genocide, particularly to reduce certain sentences and decongest prisons. “No one should be under any illusions about this, because there is a consensus that serious crimes have been committed [par Paul Rusesabagina et les membres du FLN], for which they were convicted, says Yolande Makolo. Under Rwandan law, commutation of sentence does not erase the underlying conviction. »
Also read the archive (2019): Article reserved for our subscribers In Rwanda, the slightly too beautiful history of the Hôtel des Mille Collines
Ease certain diplomatic tensions
In a letter written from his cell on October 14, 2022, Paul Rusesabagina, who has permanent residency in the United States, asks President Paul Kagame for forgiveness to allow him to reunite his family, but primarily for health reasons. “I would like to express my regrets for any action that the MRCD may have taken against the violent actions of the FLN,” he adds in the letter, which Le Monde was able to consult. Violence is never acceptable, including the use of violence to achieve political ends. It is even more serious when used against civilians… I can assure you with this letter that I have no other personal or political ambitions. I leave the questions about Rwandan politics behind me. »
Mr Rusesabagina’s release comes at a time when Rwanda is weakened on the international stage. The country has been accused in several United Nations and European Union reports of supporting the M23, which has restarted an offensive in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) that has caused tens of thousands of refugees and numerous human rights abuses. The release of the opponent could therefore allow some diplomatic tensions to be eased, particularly with Washington, which in May 2022 considered Paul Rusesabagina “unjustly detained”.
Three months later, during a visit to Kigali, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken expressed concern about his fate: “As I told the President, we believe that the people of all countries should be able to speak their minds without fear of intimidation, Detention, violence or any other form of oppression,” he assured during a press conference in Kigali.
“Rwanda notes the constructive role played by the American administration in creating the conditions for dialogue on the issue of Mr. Rusesabagina’s release, as well as the facilitation provided by the State of Qatar,” acknowledged Yolande Makolo. Before settling in the US, the former hotelier has to make a stopover in Doha.