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Rwandan authorities will release human rights activist Paul Rusesabagina, a former hotel manager whose life inspired the Hollywood film Hotel Rwanda about the country’s 1994 genocide, a Rwandan government spokeswoman said on Friday.
He was sentenced to 25 years in prison for terrorism in 2021 after authorities tricked him into boarding a plane that was secretly taking him to Kigali, the capital of Rwanda.
Spokeswoman Yolande Makolo said Rusesabagina would be released on Saturday. She said the sentences of Callixte Nsabimana and 18 others convicted in the same case were commuted after appeals for clemency.
“Serious crimes were committed for which they were convicted. Under Rwandan law, commutation of sentence does not nullify the underlying conviction,” she said.
Rusesabagina’s case highlights growing opposition to Rwandan President Paul Kagame, once lauded for ending the Rwandan genocide and for his focus on developing the tiny East African nation, but increasingly for his authoritarian rule that kidnapped Rusesabagina and allegations of support for rebels in neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo – which the government denies.
Hollywood actor Dom Cheadle played Rusesabagina in the hit film Hotel Rwanda, which was inspired by his experiences as a hotel manager protecting Tutsi guests from Hutu death squads. Rusesabagina, a Belgian citizen and US permanent resident, was awarded the US Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2005, the country’s highest civilian honor.
Rusesabagina and Kagame were once cordial, but over the years Rusesabagina became a vocal critic of Kagame, saying he stifled political opposition. The president hit back, accusing Rusesabagina of exaggerating his role in the genocide.
In 2020, Rwanda lured Rusesabagina onto a plane that he thought was going to Burundi but ended up in Kigali instead. There he was arrested and faced with a range of charges in connection with the creation and support of an opposition group – the National Liberation Front – which has been blamed for attacks that have killed civilians.
During his trial, as evidence of his guilt, the judge cited a 2018 video of Rusesabagina saying, “It is time we used every possible means to bring about change in Rwanda as all political means have been tried have been and have failed.”
The conviction sparked a storm of global criticism, with more than three dozen US Senators calling on Kagame to release Rusesabagina on humanitarian grounds and launching a high-profile campaign for his release, involving celebrities, political leaders and human rights organizations.