Hero of Hotel Rwanda to walk free as 25-year jail term is axed

Paul Rusesabagina, a businessman whose role in saving more than 1,000 lives during the 1994 Rwandan genocide inspired the film Hotel Rwanda, is to be released from prison today after his 25-year sentence on terrorism charges was commuted.

The announcement by the Rwandan government follows intense diplomacy by the US, where Rusesabagina has permanent residency rights. Historically close ties between the two countries have been strained over the case and Rwanda’s alleged meddling in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

“This is the result of a shared desire to reset the US-Rwanda relationship,” Stephanie Nyombayire, a spokesperson for Rwanda’s president Paul Kagame, wrote on Twitter.

The Qatari government announced that Rusesabagina would fly to Doha after he was freed, then to the US.

Rusesabagina was arrested in August 2020 after being tricked on to a private plane from Dubai. He was sentenced in September 2021 over his ties to an organisation opposed to President Paul Kagame’s rule. He denied all the charges and refused to take part in the trial, which he and his supporters called a political sham.

Washington designated him as “wrongly detained”, partly because of what it called the lack of fair trial guarantees.

The former hotelier’s release may help to ease tensions with Washington, which has repeatedly called on Rwanda to cease its support of the M23 armed group and to withdraw its troops from the neighbouring DRC. Rwanda denies any involvement in the country.

“I commend US and Rwandan officials for working together on Mr Rusesabagina’s release and addressing the issues surrounding his case, including those related to justice and political violence,” said Jim Risch, ranking member of the US Senate foreign relations committee.

The issue has been delicate for the US, which is seeking to reinforce its relationship with Kagame amid growing regional instability and competition for influence from other powers across the Africa.

Rusesabagina was expected to be released today alongside 19 others, whose sentences were also commuted by presidential order after requests for clemency, said Yolande Makolo, a government spokesperson.

“Under Rwandan law, commutation of sentence does not extinguish the underlying conviction,” Makolo said. “Rwanda notes the constructive role of the US government in creating conditions for dialogue on this issue, as well as the facilitation provided by the state of Qatar.”

Rwanda’s justice ministry said : “If any individual benefiting from early release repeats offences of a similar nature, the commutation can be revoked and the remainder of the prison sentence will be served.” .

Rusesabagina, a vocal critic of Kagame, acknowledged having a leadership role in an opposition group, the Rwanda Movement for Democratic Change (MRCD), but denied responsibility for attacks carried out on Rwanda by its armed wing, the Forces for National Liberation. The trial judges said the two wings were indistinguishable.

“I regret not taking more care to ensure that members of the MRCD coalition fully adhered to the principles of non violence,” Rusesabagina wrote in a 14 October letter to Kagame, which was released by the justice ministry. “If I am granted a pardon and released, I understand fully that I will spend the remainder of my days in the United States in quiet reflection.”

Kagame, who won a third term in power with 98% of the vote in 2017, is credited with the stability Rwanda has experienced since the genocide in 1994, but is also accused of intolerance of any opposition, whether domestic or international.

Critics of his rule are frequently detained and several high-profile dissidents have been murdered abroad.