More than two and a half years after being kidnapped on a private jet and subsequently sentenced to prison for terrorism-related charges, hotelier Paul Rusesabagina turned heroic dissident. described in “Rwanda Hotel“was released from prison Friday night, according to the Rwandan government and US officials who briefed reporters in Washington.
US officials said Mr. Rusesabagina had been to the residence of the Qatari ambassador to Rwanda and would travel to the Qatari capital, Doha, in the next few days. After a brief stop there, Mr. Rusesabagina is expected to travel to the United States to reunite with his family, with whom he has missed important events including the birth of two grandchildren and a good ceremony. his son’s college career.
Rusesabagina’s departure from Rwanda would end an ordeal that lasted more than 900 days, during which he said he was blindfolded and tortured, held in solitary confinement and threatened with lack of food, water and medicine. by Mr. Rusesabagina arrest and trial has attracted the support of celebrities and governments abroad, while also bringing new scrutiny to Rwanda’s president, Paul Kagame, who has been accused of suppressing dissent. within the country and targeting dissidents abroad.
US officials said they could not comment on Rusesabagina’s health, citing privacy concerns.
On Saturday morning, reporters who had been invited by the government a day earlier to witness Mr. Rusesabagina’s imminent release gathered in front of Mageragere Prison on the outskirts of the capital – only for officials to the prison told them he had left the night before. Yolande Makolo, a spokesman for the Rwandan government, confirmed that he had been transferred from the prison to the residence of the Qatari ambassador.
His liberate, release, free was reached after months of negotiations led by the White House.
Mr. Rusesabagina, 68, is famous for his role in protecting and saving 1,268 lives at the luxury hotel he managed in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda, during the 1994 genocide. He later moved to the United States and for many years became an outspoken critic of Mr. Kagame’s authoritarian rule. The president in turn lashed out at him, accusing him of profiting from fabricated tales of his heroism and supporting rebel groups determined to overthrow Mr. Kagame’s government.
The The clash has reached its climax in August 2020, when Rwandan agents lured Mr. Rusesabagina from his home in San Antonio, Texas, to Dubai. While there, he boarded a private jet believing he was going to give a presentation in Burundi, only to land in neighboring Rwanda.
“Imagine how you would feel if you found yourself where you should not be,” he said in an interview to The New York Times just days after Rwandan officials announced they had arrested him.
After his initial arrest, Mr. Rusesabagina said he was tortured by Rwandan security forces, who overpowered him, stepped on his neck and prevented him from eating or sleeping. His family and lawyers said that as a cancer survivor with high blood pressure and a history of cardiovascular disease, he lost a lot of weight in the first few weeks of his detention.
But Rwandan officials, including Mr. Kagame, was excited about the elaborate rusehappily declared on television that it was “perfect.”
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Rusesabagina, a Belgian citizen and US resident, was later accused of supporting and belonging to an opposition coalition whose armed wing the government says is responsible for attacks inside Rwanda.
Mr. Rusesabagina and his lawyers said the authorities regularly confiscation of secret legal documents under his defense, and Rusesabagina soon boycotted the trial altogether, calling it a “sham”. In September 2021, after 7 months of trial, he was sentenced to 25 years.
“This is a demonstration trial, not a fair judicial investigation,” said Geoffrey Robertson, a human rights lawyer who followed the trial for the Clooney Foundation for Justice and Justice. Report co-author up there.
He was released on Saturday after months of quiet US diplomacy. During his visit to Kigali last August, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken also raised the case of Mr. Rusesabagina with the Rwandan leader, making it clear that his detention would remain an inconvenience until he was released, according to officials who spoke on condition of anonymity under White House ground rules.
Last October, Mr. Rusesabagina also wrote a letter to Mr. Kagame, asking for forgiveness and regretting any association with political groups that use violence. After Mr. Rusesabagina wrote to Mr. Kagame, his lawyer, Ryan Fayhee, traveled to Kigali to meet with Rwandan judicial officials and made a rare visit to meet Mr. Rusesabagina in prison.
Jake Sullivan, the president’s national security adviser, was also involved, personally seeking to resolve the issue through phone calls and meetings at his White House office, officials said. Officials said no specific concessions had been made to help Rusesabagina’s release, but they said a series of events were crucial for that to happen.
On Friday, President Biden welcomed Rusesabagina’s release, saying in a statement that he “looks forward to welcoming him back to the United States.”
Bob Menendez, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, also called the development “a moment of relief and reflection.”
He added: “Mr. Rusesabagina’s trial and sham conviction created a mockery of justice, and his wrongful detention has had a lasting impact on U.S. policy toward Rwanda.”
Peter Baker And Edward King contribution report.
