The parliament in Kigali on Tuesday slammed the recent resolution by the European Union parliament seeking the release of the controversial hero of Hotel Rwanda movie who is facing terrorism-related charges before Rwandan justice.
Paul Rusesabagina faces various charges including terrorism, arson, and murder that he is alleged to have committed or incited on the Rwandan territory.
The joint plenary session of both chambers of the Parliament and the Senate was held virtually adopted the joint report of their committees in charge of foreign affairs, cooperation and security on the resolution of the European Union Parliament on Rusesabagina’s case.
The resolution adopted by the European Parliament among other things, condemned what it described as “the enforced disappearance, illegal rendition and incommunicado detention of Paul Rusesabagina.”
Rwandan lawmakers noted that the EU’s Parliament showed a bad intent to subvert the course of an ongoing court proceedings, and urged for the nullification of the resolution in the framework of respecting the principle of judicial independence and that of various government organs of Rwanda.
In their plenary session, Rwandan lawmakers criticised the EU Parliament for selectively looking at Rusesabagina’s interests with no consideration to the victims of the deadly acts for which he himself had claimed responsibility.
The resolution of the Parliament of Rwanda was based on various factors, including that Rusesabagina and 20 co-accused, all Rwandan, are being pursued in courts over armed attacks that they are suspected to have committed in South-Western part of Rwanda around 2018.
Rusesabagina, who once called for armed resistance to the government in a YouTube video, was accused of “terrorism”, complicity in murder, and forming or joining an armed group, among other charges.
The 66-year-old former hotel manager was portrayed in the Oscar-nominated film Hotel Rwanda using his connections with the Hutu elite to protect more than 1,000 Tutsis fleeing the genocide in 1994.
CU/as/APA