‘Kidnapped’ Hotel Rwanda hero on trial for terrorism charges

Paul Rusesabagina (R) is escorted in handcuffs into a courtroom in Kigali

Credit: CLEMENT UWIRINGIYIMANA /REUTERS

Staunch Rwandan government critic Paul Rusesabagina, best known for inspiring the Hollywood blockbuster Hotel Rwanda, went on trial on Wednesday for terrorism charges after he was allegedly kidnapped and held hostage by authorities.

On the first day of proceedings, Mr Rusesabagina argued he cannot be tried by a Rwandan court because he is a Belgian citizen.

"Let me say for the fifth time that I am Belgian and not Rwandan. I was kidnapped and brought to Rwanda and I am being held here hostage. Kidnap itself is a crime," he told the courtroom in the capital Kigali.

His family has raised concerns over the poor state of his health and the fairness of a trial they say is politically-motivated in a country often criticised for human rights abuses and the suppression of political dissent.

Rwanda’s government denies the dissident was kidnapped, although officials have suggested he was tricked into boarding a plane he thought was headed for neighbouring Burundi. 

He mysteriously disappeared while on a layover in Dubai last August before unexpectedly appearing in handcuffs in his home country after being detained by government officials.

Mr Rusesabagina faces charges of forming an illegal armed group, being a member of a terrorist group and sponsoring terrorism. Authorities claim he had a role in a string of alleged attacks by National Liberation Front (FLN) rebels in southern Rwanda along the border with Burundi in 2018.

He has admitted that he formed the FLN but denied any wrongdoing. 

Don Cheadle in Hotel Rwanda

Credit: Film still

The 66-year-old former hotel manager won worldwide fame for saving over 1,000 people during Rwanda’s 1994 genocide. 

He sheltered the people in his Hotel Des Milles Collines as Hutu extremists of the Interahamwe militia went through the area killing perceived Tutsis and sympathisers.

His story became the basis of the Oscar-nominated 2004 movie Hotel Rwanda, in which he was played by the US actor Don Cheadle.

But some survivors of the genocide have since claimed that he overblew his role in rescuing Tutsis and charged people money to be able to take refuge in his hotel.

Mr Rusesabagina has been living outside Rwanda since 1996 — first in Belgium, where he has citizenship, and then in the US.

He has previously described President Paul Kagame’s government as a dictatorship and urged Western countries to press the government to respect human rights.