The man portrayed as saving numerous lives in the 2004 Hollywood flick was handed 25 years on terrorism charges in 2021
Paul Rusesabagina, whose efforts to shelter more than 1,000 people during the 1994 genocide in Central Africa inspired the movie ‘Hotel Rwanda’, should face life in prison instead of the 25-year sentence he received for terrorism charges, a Rwandan prosecutor has told a court.
Rusesabagina managed the Hotel des Mille Collines in the Rwandan capital of Kigali, where many members of the Tutsi ethnic minority found shelter during some 100 days of ethnic cleansing by Hutu extremists. The 1994 genocide saw more than 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus killed.
A decade later, Rusesabagina’s story became the basis for the Oscar-nominated ‘Hotel Rwanda’, in which the leading role was played by Don Cheadle.
The movie made Rusesabagina an internationally recognized figure, and he used this status to criticize what he called abuses by President Paul Kagame, who has ruled Rwanda since 1994.
In 2020, Rusesabagina, who is a Belgian citizen and US resident, was tricked into boarding a plane from Dubai to Rwanda, where he was taken into custody.
Last September, the 67-year-old was handed 25 years behind bars on eight terrorism charges, stemming from the activities of a local armed group in 2018 and 2019 that left at least nine people dead.
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