Rwanda Senate will soon react to one of the resolutions by the European Parliament on the controversial hero of Hotel Rwanda’s movie Paul Rusesabagina who is facing terrorism, murder charges, an official source confirmed Sunday in Kigali.
All members of upper house of Rwandan parliament argue that the issue needs urgent attention, describing the resolution as interference of the European Parliament into Rwanda’s justice system, and that the Parliament should react to it swiftly.
The move comes after the European Parliament – a parliamentary institution of the European Union earlier last week ( Thursday, February 11) called for the release of the terror suspect.
In its resolution, which is non-binding, the EU legislators termed the arrest as “enforced disappearance”.
“The European Union Parliament strongly condemns the enforced disappearance, illegal rendition, and the incommunicado detention of Paul Rusesabagina and calls for his immediate release,” the resolution adopted on Thursday reads.
“The EU Parliament calls on the Rwandan government to show its willingness to conduct transparent, credible and independent investigations, and provide a complete and corroborated account of how Paul Rusesabagina was apprehended and transferred to Kigali.”
Rusesabagina is facing nine charges – reduced from 13 – related to financing terrorism, armed robbery, abduction, arson, attempted murder, assault, and battery.
He will be tried alongside 18 rebels suspected of conducting attacks in Rwanda in which nine people were killed in the southern province. They include Callixte Nsabimana, alias Sankara, a former commander of the rebel group FLN that claimed responsibility for the attacks.
However, the EU has been tasked, in the resolution, to investigate the legality of the arrest and trial of Rusesabagina as a citizen of Belgium.
It has also condemned the “politically motivated trial and prosecution of political opponents and the prejudging of the outcome of the trial” in Rwanda.
In the meantime, during a virtual session, the Bureau of the Senate and that of the Chamber of Deputies ssaid they are working together on the issue to consider how to speed up the process to respond to the EU Parliament’s resolution.
CU/abj/APA