Paul Rusesabagina, the hero of “Hotel Rwanda”, has been released from prison

Pavalo Rusesabaginahero Hotel Rwandahe was released from prison this Saturday after achieving a presidential pardon The Rwandan, Paul Kagame, whose avowed opponent he is, and after being sentenced to 25 years in 2021 for terrorist crimes.

“I am grateful that the Rwandan government released Paul Rusesabagina. Paul’s family can’t wait for him to return to the United States, and I am personally happy for this good news,” US President Joe Biden said in a statement.

US State Department Secretary Antony Blinken also shared his support release of Rusesabagina and requested that “political violence” not be used. Rwandan government spokeswoman Yolande Makolo qualified on CNN that pardon “does not absolve from punishment” and thanked the United States and Qatar for helping to establish these conditions for his release, which he also specified comes after a letter of forgiveness from Rusesabagina to President Kagame.

Rusesabagina was arrested in August 2020 and sentenced to 25 years in prison by the Rwandan Supreme Court for his role in leading the MRDC, the political wing of the rebel group the National Liberation Front (FLN), which demanded the authorship of several attacks between 2018 and 2019 resulting in at least nine deaths.

The United Nations condemned that the detention was carried out arbitrarily and under strange circumstances, in addition to questioning the impartiality of the trial. On the other hand, he recalled the record of Rusesabagina as critical of Kagame’s government and in the defense of human rights.

It is Rusesabagina world famous for the film Hotel Rwanda. As acting manager of the Hotel Mille Collines in Kigali, he managed to protect more than 1,200 Tutsis and moderate Hutus inside the establishment during the 1994 genocide – in which almost 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were massacred – using his contacts.