Beijing, 26 Mar (Xinhua) -- Rwandan Government spokesman Yolande Marcolo announced on 24 March that President Paul Kagame has lifted the prison sentence of Paul Rusesabagina, the protagonist of the Hollywood film "Hotel Rwanda," and 19 other criminals involved in terrorism.
Paul Rusesabagina appears in court in Kigali, Rwanda, on February 17, 2021. Xinhua News Agency (photo by Cyril Ndegea)
U.S. government officials told reporters that Rusesa was released from prison later that day and entered the Qatari ambassador's residence in Kigali, Rwanda, accompanied by a U.S. embassy official, and will travel to Doha, the capital of Qatar, and then to the United States in a few days.
Marcolo said that although Rusesa and others were released, the "convictions" were not dropped.
Evaluation polarization
Rusesa, 68, holds dual Belgian-Rwandan citizenship and permanent resident status in the United States.
After the release of Hotel Rwanda, a film set in the 1994 Rwandan genocide, Rusesa became famous. But according to AFP, as the prototype of the protagonist in the film, Rusesa received "polarization".
On February 27, 2005, in front of the Kodak Theater in Los Angeles, actor Don Cheadle appeared on the red carpet. He was nominated for the Oscar for Best Actor for the film "Hotel Rwanda". Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Qi Heng
The script of "Hotel Rwanda" claims to be based on the personal experience of Rusesa, telling the story of how a Hutu manager of the Rwanda Hotel rescued and sheltered more than 1,200 Tutsi and moderate Hutu people, so that they escaped the massacre of Hutu extremist factions.
This multi-country filmed and Hollywood production film was widely praised after its release, and was nominated for many Oscars, Golden Globes and other film awards, making the Rwandan genocide more widely known, and also made Rusesa an African "human rights fighter" and "humanitarian hero" in the eyes of the Western media, and even won the Presidential Medal of Freedom awarded to him by then US President George W. Bush in 2005.
But in Rwanda, the authenticity of the film's portrayal of the Holocaust and Rusesabagina's "heroic" deeds has been questioned. Some Holocaust survivors who stayed at the Rwandan Hotel identified Rusesabagina not as selfless and unrewarded as the film's protagonist, but had sold international aid food to refugees at high prices, and even reported non-paying tenants to Hutu soldiers.
Rwanda's Hutu and Tutsi have long been at odds, exacerbated by the policies adopted during Belgian colonial rule.
In April 1994, the plane of the then President of Rwanda, Hutu Juvenar Habyarimana, was shot down and exploded over Kigali, triggering a massacre by Hutu extremists against Tutsis and moderates of the Hutu people, killing more than 1 million people, the vast majority of them Tutsis, in the past three months.
From "hero" to prisoner
In July 1994, the Rwandan Patriotic Front, a previously Ugandan-based Tutsi armed force, seized power in Rwanda and ended the conflict. The Chairman of the Rwandan Patriotic Front, Paul Kagame, has been President of Rwanda since April 2000.
Rwandan President Paul Kagame addresses the 73rd FIFA Congress on March 16. Xinhua News Agency (photo by Cyril Ndegea)
Since coming to power, Kagame has taken a series of measures to combat corruption, promote economic development and ethnic reconciliation, and promote political, economic and social stability in Rwanda. Especially in the first 15 years of this century, Rwanda's GDP growth rate was very impressive in Africa. Rusesabagina, for her part, has repeatedly attacked the Kagame government after settling abroad, noting that its policies are still skewed in favour of the Tutsi.
The Rwandan Bureau of Investigation announced the arrest of Rusesa at Kigali International Airport in August 2020, accusing him of involvement in and financing terrorism, arson, kidnapping, murder and wounding of innocent civilians, in connection with two attacks in southern Rwanda in 2018. Rusesa denies the allegations.
Rusesabagina acknowledged leading roles in the opposition group Movement for Democratic Change in Rwanda, but denied responsibility for attacks by its armed forces in Rwanda.
In February 2021, the Rwandan High Court began hearing the case involving Rusesabakina, convicting him in September of the same year and sentencing him to 25 years in prison.
The Rwandan Ministry of Justice disclosed on the 24th the content of a letter from Rusesa to Kagame last October. In it, Rusesa wrote: "I regret the ill-considered failure to ensure that the members of the Rwandan Movement for Democratic Change coalition fully respect the principle of non-violence. He also wrote that if he were amnestied and freed, he would spend the rest of his life in the United States, "quietly reflecting." (Shen Min)