Notable human rights activist Paul Rusesabagina will be released from prison Saturday after having his 25-year sentence commuted, Rwandan authorities said Friday.
Rusesabagina, whose story was the subject of the 2004 film “Hotel Rwanda,” is credited with saving more than 1,000 lives during Rwanda’s 1994 genocide against the Tutsi.
His sentence was commuted by presidential order after requests for clemency, said government spokeswoman Yolande Makolo. Nineteen other individuals also had their sentences commuted.
The Rwandan-born humanitarian and “real-life hero,” according to the Human Rights Foundation, was “arbitrarily imprisoned” in 2020 after falling victim to a kidnapping orchestrated by [the Rwandan government].”
Rusesabagina, an outspoken critic of President Paul Kagame, was kidnapped during a visit to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, according to his supporters and family. They say he would never knowingly have boarded a plane to go to Rwanda, a country he hadn’t lived in since 1996.
In 2021, the 68-year-old Belgian citizen and U.S. resident was convicted on eight charges — including murder and terrorism — over his ties to an organization opposed to Kagame’s regime.
Rusesabagina denied all charges and refused to take part in the trial, which was slammed as a sham by his supporters. He also had limited contact with lawyers following his arrest.
Stephanie Nyombayire, Kagame’s press secretary, wrote on Twitter Friday afternoon that the commutation was the “result of a shared desire to reset the U.S.-Rwanda relationship” and that “the close relationship between Rwanda and Qatar was key” in doing so.
A spokesperson for the Qatari foreign ministry, Majid Al-Ansari, said in a statement that Rusesabagina’s transfer to Qatar is currently underway and that he would then head to the U.S.
“This issue was discussed during meetings that brought together Qatari and Rwandan officials at the highest levels,” he said.
“Under Rwandan law, commutation of sentence does not extinguish the underlying conviction,'” Rwanda’s justice ministry said in a statement. “If any individual benefitting from early release repeats offenses of a similar nature, the commutation can be revoked and the remainder of the prison sentence will be served in accordance with the conditions specified in the Presidential Order.”
In 2005, Rusesabagina was awarded the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom for saving the lives of at least 1,200 people during the genocide.
Around 800,000 people, mostly from the Tutsi ethnic group, were slaughtered by extremists from the Hutu community during the genocide, which lasted 100 days.
At the time, Rusesabagina worked as a hotel manager and protected those who sought shelter in the building.
With News Wire Services
