Paul Rusesabagina, a former hotel manager who was sentenced to 25 years for terrorism in 2021 by a Rwandan court has been set free from prison in Kigali.
Rusesabagina was portrayed as a hero in the Hollywood film Hotel Rwanda, however, his sentence was “commuted by presidential order”.
The 68-year-old is saved to have saved some 1,200 people during the 1994 genocide. US President Joe Biden referred to the news of his release as a “happy outcome”.
“Paul’s family is eager to welcome him back to the United States, and I share their joy at today’s good news,” he said in a statement.
This is coming after years of diplomatic pressure and Qatar-brokered talks. Rusesabagina’s family alleges that he was lured back to Rwanda in 2020 from Texas, where he had permanent residency.
Rusesabagina left Rwanda in 1996 and remained relatively unknown until his story was featured in journalist Philip Gourevitch’s 1998 book about the genocide.
However, it was the 2004 Hollywood movie that brought him global attention. In September 2021, he was found guilty of supporting a rebel group that committed deadly attacks in Rwanda. He was freed alongside Callixte Nsabimana, a spokesman of the opposition political party.
While the Rwandan government acknowledges the constructive role of the US government and the facilitation provided by Qatar, they assert that serious crimes were committed for which they were convicted, and the commutation of the sentence does not extinguish the underlying conviction under Rwandan law.