‘Hotel Rwanda hero’ to learn terror trial verdict in August
- Paul Rusesabagina faces terrorism charges in Kigali, Rwanda, in a trial denounced as political by his supporters
- Rusesabagina, who inspired the Hollywood film over his actions during the 1994 genocide that saved about 1,000 people, faces a life sentence
A court in Rwanda said on Thursday that it would issue its verdict next month in the trial of detained Hotel Rwanda activist turned government critic Paul Rusesabagina, who is charged with terrorism in a case denounced as political by his supporters.
Prosecutors last month sought a sentence of life in prison against Rusesabagina, who inspired the Hollywood film over his actions during the 1994 genocide that saved the lives of about 1,000 people.
Judge Antoine Muhima said the verdict in the trial against Rusesabagina and 20 other accused, which opened in February, would be delivered on August 20.
The former manager of Kigali’s Hotel des Mille Collines was portrayed by Don Cheadle in the 2004 film that told how he sheltered people during the genocide in which an estimated 800,000 died, most of them ethnic Tutsis.
Rusesabagina subsequently became a prominent and outspoken critic of President Paul Kagame. He has lived in exile in the United States and Belgium since 1996.
