Appeals to release Rusesabagina make no sense

It’s been two years since Paul Rusesabagina, a terror convict who was elevated by his Western backers into a Hollywood hero by the fictitious “Hotel Rwanda” film, was arrested in Rwanda. In September 2021, he was convicted of terrorism by a Rwandan court. He is serving 25 years in jail.

At the beginning of the trial, he showed signs that he may eventually atone for his crimes. But as the case progressed, faced with overwhelming evidence pinning him on atrocities he masterminded as boss of MRCD and its military wing, FLN, he recoiled and boycotted trial.

But as the rules of procedure of Rwandan courts prescribe, the trial continued in his absence. A court of appeal upheld his 25-year sentence, in April 2022.

Numerous letters by Westerners requesting Rwanda to immediately release Rusesabagina have been flowing before and after his trial, with accusations of Rwandan agents kidnapping him and of an unfair trial. His trial was streamed live, online, for everyone interested in the hearings. But despite all effort made by the Rwandan justice system to ensure a fair trial, there are continuous attempts to intimidate Rwandan authorities to set free a charged and convicted terrorist. One recent attempt was through the letter written by US Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey, to US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, calling for the US to sanction Rwanda. In this July 2022 letter, the Senator served as an advocate of anti-Rwanda lobbies whose narrative is built on mere fabrications. The latter lobbies are paid by the likes of the terror-group Rwanda National Congress (RNC), and its backers.

Menendez’s letter was part of a larger, or international-scale, intimidation scheme pushing to free Rusesabagina. It followed the resolution of October 2021 by the EU Parliament, condemning Rusesabagina’s arrest, questioning the fairness of the verdict against him, and urging the EU to step up efforts to get him freed and repatriated to Belgium.

In September 2021, Belgian vice Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sophie Wilmès, wrote to Rwandan authorities expressing contempt of Rwanda's judicial independence and impartiality in the sentencing of Rusesabagina. The US Congress voted a resolution in July 2022 which called on the Rwandan government to immediately release Rusesabagina on humanitarian grounds.

Rusesabagina’s family, its lobbyists and other anti-Rwanda government individuals use different media platforms in challenging the country to free the convict whose atrocities led to death of nine people, in Southwestern Rwanda. Rusesabagina supporters even believed Blinken’s trip to Kigali in August 2022 was the most powerful influence, yet it gained nothing other than humiliation.

Rusesabagina’s family shifted their campaign to petitions. A number of their donors continue pouring in cash, unknowingly, thinking that they are contributing to humanitarian causes, yet they are sponsoring terrorism, and supporting criminal individuals who are filling their own pockets.

The main campaigners, Anaїse and Carine Kanimba, Rusesabagina’s adoptive daughters, are in big business. They collect huge sums of money the same way their adoptive father did; preparing fundraisers for the Hotel Rwanda Rusesabagina Foundation, which their father used to obtain funds to sponsor deadly terrorist attacks.

Apart from being deceitful for personal gains, all the attempts to release Rusesabagina will fail.

He was lucky not to get a life sentence, the maximum sentence prescribed for the crimes he was convicted for.