“Hotel Rwanda”: the prosecution appeals the conviction of Paul Rusesabagina

Published on : 20/10/2021 – 18:39

The Rwandan prosecution announced on Wednesday October 20 that it had appealed the 25-year prison sentence of Paul Rusesabagina, a former hotelier whose story inspired the film “Hotel Rwanda” and became a fierce critic of President Paul Kagame.

The prosecution, which had requested life imprisonment against him, appealed against all the decisions handed down on September 20 against the 21 defendants, prosecutor spokesman Faustin Nkusi told AFP.

Known for having allowed the rescue of more than a thousand people during the genocide of 1994, Paul Rusesabagina, 67, was found guilty of “having founded and belonging” to the National Liberation Front (FLN), group rebel accused of carrying out deadly attacks in Rwanda in 2018 and 2019.

The trial was held under conditions denounced by human rights organizations.

Opposing the regime

At the time of the verdict, the main prosecutor, Aimable Havugiyaremye, had expressed the dissatisfaction of the prosecution, “all the defendants having been sentenced to less than the requisitions”.

Paul Rusesabagina has used his Hollywood notoriety to give global resonance to his positions against the Paul Kagame regime.

He had been living since 1996 in exile in the United States – where he holds a “green card” – and in Belgium, before being arrested in Kigali in 2020 in troubled circumstances, when a plane descended. he thought he was bound for Burundi.

With AFP