Monday, April 4, Court of Appeals Rwanda Paul Rusebagina, convicted of “terrorism”, has been sentenced to 25 years in prison. Rwanda HotelThe prosecution’s appeal seeking a harsher sentence was rejected. “Since he is a first-time offender, the court does not consider that his sentence should be increased because the twenty-five years he has served are commensurate with the weight of his crimes.”After a day of arguments, Judge Franോois Regis Rukundakuga said.

Paul Rusebagina, known as a fierce opponent of President Paul Kagam, was sentenced in September 2021. “Established and included” To the National Liberation Front (FLN), an armed group accused of carrying out deadly attacks in Rwanda in 2018 and 2019. The prosecution had sought life imprisonment and had appealed for an increase in the sentence. Prosecutors also appealed for three to 20 years in prison against 20 of his co-defendants.

Paul Rusebagina, 67, has always denied the allegations and condemned trials intended to deceive his opponent. He was not present Monday to read the verdict. The family, which continues to warn of his health condition, announced in mid-January “I do not know[it] Not a political prisoner’s appeal. “. Defendant and his lawyers boycotted most of the initial hearings, condemning the trial. “Politics” As well as bad behavior in detention.

The arrest was made under mysterious circumstances

Paul Rusebagina is famous for his film Hotel Rwanda, Released in 2004, this moderate Hutu, who runs the Hotel Des Mille Collins in Kigali, saved more than 1,000 people in the 1994 genocide and killed 800,000, according to the UN, mainly from the Tutsi minority.

Paul Kagame, who has been accused of dictatorship and anti-Hutu sentiment for more than 20 years, has used his Hollywood fame to echo his stance globally. He has been living in exile in the United States and Belgium since 1996, before being arrested in Kigali in 2020 for boarding a plane bound for Burundi.