Hotel Rwanda hero Paul Rusesabagina arrested for terrorism

Paul Rusesabagina, in handcuffs before the Rwandan press in Kigali capital on Monday. The official police statement, “Through international cooperation, the Rwanda Bureau of Investigation wants to inform the general public that Paul Rusesabagina has been arrested.”

The internationally honoured hero, portrayed in the film “Hotel Rwanda” as the saviour of almost 2000 people in 1994 during the country’s ethnocentric genocide ordeal, is under suspicions of founding and financially backing terrorist outfits behind heinous crimes against humanity on Rwandan soil.

“Rusesabagina is suspected to be the founder, leader, sponsor and member of violent, armed, extremist terror outfits including the Rwanda Movement for Democratic Change (MRCD) operating out of various places in the region and abroad,” police said.

The police also informed that there was an international arrest warrant for Rusesabagina to answer to these accusations of serious crimes including terrorism, arson, kidnap and murder, perpetrated against unarmed, innocent Rwandan civilians. The officers did not, however, reveal where exactly Rusesabagina, who had been living outside Rwanda since 1996 in Belgium and then in Texas, United States, was apprehended.

Rusesabagina, a vehement critic of the Rwandan government and an opponent to President Paul Kagame, is yet to be officially charged in court and has previously denied these government allegations that he financially supports Rwandan rebels.