Amnesty International has noted ‘numerous violations’ in the pre-trial period that impacted the sentencing of a Rwandan opposition leader, Paul Rusesabagina, to 25 years in prison.

Rusesabagina and 20 other individuals were tried in connection with armed attacks in 2018 and 2019 in southern Rwanda.

He was charged with nine terrorism-related charges, including formation of an irregular armed group, membership of a terrorist group, financing terrorism, murder, and abduction.

Others are abduction as an act of terrorism, armed robbery as an act of terrorism, arson as an act of terrorism, attempted murder as an act of terrorism and assault and battery as an act of terrorism.

‘Amnesty International noted numerous fair trial violations, including Rusesabagina’s arrest under false pretenses and unlawful transfer to Rwanda, enforced disappearance and incommunicado detention following his rendition to Rwanda’, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for East Africa, the Horn of Africa and the Great Lakes, Sarah Jackson, said.

Jackson listed other violations of fair trial rights, including that Rusesabagina was initially denied the right to be represented by a lawyer of his choice.

‘Prison authorities confiscated privileged and confidential legal documents from him, and that President Paul Kagame’s public comments on the case, including when he told CNN TV that the Rusesabagina had “done something terribly wrong, committed a crime”, may have prejudiced the defendant’s right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty’, Jackson noted.

The organisation called on the Rwandan judicial authorities to recognise violations of Rusesabagina’s right to a fair trial and remedy those during appeal proceedings or a retrial.

‘Victims and survivors of attacks attributed to the National Liberation Forces deserve justice. Fair trial violations in the case were a disservice to the course of justice and to the victims and survivors of the attacks for which Rusesabagina and others were accused of being responsible’, Jackson added.

Rusesabagina is credited with being instrumental in protecting the lives of around 1,200 people who sought refuge at the Hotel des Milles Collines in Kigali during the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

He left Rwanda in 1996 and over time became increasingly critical of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) government.

Source: Amnesty International

Photo source: Reuters/Clement Uwiringiyimana