Why is Lantos Foundation supporting terrorist suspects?

As the trial of former hotelier Paul Rusesabagina and 20 co-accused edges closer to conclusion, his family and a web of sympathisers are resorting to any tricks that could see him set free instead of paying the price for his alleged crimes.

The most recent of such blind sympathisers is the New-Hampshire based Lantos Foundation. On June 7, it called for the US government to apply the Magnitsky Sanctions against two Rwandan government officials whom it accused of abducting him. The Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act (Global Magnitsky Act) authorises the US President to impose economic sanctions and deny entry into the United States to any foreign person identified as engaging in human rights abuse or corruption.

“The Lantos Foundation for Human Rights & Justice today announced that it has filed a formal submission to the U.S. Department of State and U.S. Department of Treasury recommending Global Magnitsky sanctions against Rwandan Justice Minister Johnston Busingye and head of the Rwanda Investigation Bureau (RIB) Colonel Jeannot Ruhunga for their role in human rights violations committed against Paul Rusesabagina – namely his extraordinary rendition and kidnapping in August 2020,” reads their statement.

This action is undertaken by the same organisation which 10 years ago bestowed on Rusesabagina the prestigious Lantos award for allegedly saving Tutsi and moderate Hutu who sought refuge at the Hotel Mille Collines, despite protests by genocide survivors.

The Lantos Foundation explained at the time that “while the mighty and powerful found reasons and excuses to turn away, Paul Rusesabagina, a self-described ordinary man, did not turn away. Paul’s brave and profoundly decent actions as the manager of the Hotel des Mille Collines saved the lives of over 1,200 Tutsis and moderate Hutus who had taken refuge in his hotel.

Other recipients of this prize include the Dalai Lama, Shimon Peres, Hilary Clinton, and Professor Elie Wiesel. But all along, this story of one man saving such many refugees was just a Hollywood-made sensation which catapulted Rusesabagina into the limelight. Even today, Lantos Foundation continues to call him “a real-life hero of the Oscar-nominated film Hotel Rwanda”.

At the time, many people disagreed with the Lantos Foundation for giving this award to a man praised for acts he did not do, but who was rather collaborating with the genocide masterminds including Colonel Theoneste Bagosora. Janvier Forongo of Ibuka, an umbrella organisation of genocide survivors, commenting on the Lantos decision to give Rusesabagina an award said that, “our problem is what they’re doing. It’s because of that Film Hotel Rwanda – that is not a true story. He was charging money for those who survived in that hotel.”

The declaration by the Lantos Foundation has provoked angry reactions, especially from genocide survivors, some of whom were at the Mille Collines as they wonder why the organisation continues to buy into Rusesabagina’s lies. The man is man charged with terrorism against the Rwandan government. His activities have so far claimed lives and damaged a lot of property. He is being tried, together with 20 co-accused at the Kigali high Court.

What many people wonder is why this foundation would do the bidding for a man who has declared war against his own country. A genocide survivor called Noel Kambanda posted on his tweeter page: “Dear @Lantos SwettK, survivors of the genocide warned you in 2011 that Paul Rusesabagina is not a humanitarian when you had put him on the list of your Award recipients and you turned a blind eye to that, now he has been arrested for his acts of terror in Rwanda.”

In a letter addressed to Lantos Foundation in 2011 signed by the then Ibuka   president Professor Jean Pierre Dusingizemungu, he warned Lantos that “Rusesabagina is an extremist politician, who is actively raising funds not to help the victims of the genocide but to arm militias, composed of perpetrators of the genocide, who are wreaking havoc, including mass rape," in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Ibuka was proven right by testimonies from Rusesabagina’s co-accused, and prosecution witnesses, mainly Dr. Michelle Martin, a professor and social worker who worked for Rusesabagina’s foundation. The witnesses revealed how he funnelled huge sums of money to different armed groups fighting to overthrow the current Rwandan government.

Moreover, the FBI and the Belgian Prosecution authorities provided evidence to Rwanda’s prosecution about his transfer of huge sums of money to Rwanda to Africa to fund terrorist groups; including his own Rwandan Movement for Democratic Change (MRCD) and its armed wing, FLN. Analysts believe that whoever was accomplice in assisting Rusesabagina to raise funds that he used to finance acts of terrorism on Rwanda soil, including the Lantos Foundation, should be tried alongside him and his co-accused.

The Lantos’ allegations of abduction, kidnap and enforced disappearance, are in line with the same baseless accusations levelled by his family that Rusesabagina is held under torture, and in solitary confinement where he is denied food and medicine. All these accusations have been flatly rejected by officials from the Rwandan Correctional Services (RCS) as mere fabrications. Rusesabagina is treated like any other inmate, his dietary needs are respected, and the medical demands are also catered for.

The Lantos Foundation by referring to Rusesabagina’s coming to Rwanda as extraordinary rendition and kidnapping only serves to fool the uninformed. Rusesabagina did not arrive in Rwanda in handcuffs or under any duress. He came on his own will, lured by a friend he trusted. Bishop Constantin Niyomwungeri testified before court how he lured him into a private jet which he believed would take him to Burundi.

In a similar way, Belgian authorities arrested Somali pirate Mohamed Abdi Hassan in 2013, after being lured by agents in a “lucrative documentary film project.” Belgium was not accused of rendition or kidnapping. There are many other similar cases in other countries as well. The argument that Rusesabagina’s case fits as rendition and kidnap does not stand.  The Lantos Foundation should let Rusesabagina defend himself against terrorism charges before courts of law without influence and false claims. Their calling for sanctions against Rwandan officials is unprocedural and diversionary.