Paul Rusesabagina, the hero whose story is told in the movie ‘Hotel Rwanda’, is now in the United States after being released from prison on Saturday, where he was serving a 25-year sentence for terrorism.
»I am happy to report that we have welcomed Paul Rusesabagina back to the United States. We are glad to have him back on U.S. soil and reunited with his family and friends, who have waited long for this day to come,» said U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan.
»I am grateful for all those who worked closely with the Government of Rwanda to make this possible,» Sullivan added. Rusesabagina, in addition to having Belgian nationality, had a permanent residence permit in the United States, where part of his family lives.
Rusesabagina was released on March 25 after winning a pardon from President Paul Kagame, of whom he is a well-known opponent. He was arrested in August 2020 and sentenced to 25 years in prison by Rwanda’s Supreme Court for his role at the head of the Rwandan Movement for Democratic Change (MRDC), the political arm of the rebel group National Liberation Front (FLN), which claimed responsibility for several attacks between 2018 and 2019 that resulted in at least nine deaths.
The man acknowledged at the end of September 2020 his ties with the FLN, although he wielded that his role was only of a »diplomatic» nature. Thus, he said that the MRDC created the FLN »as an armed wing, not as a terrorist group as the prosecutor claims». I do not deny that the FLN committed crimes, but my role was diplomacy,» he stressed.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
