Paul Rusesabagina, the hotel manager whose real-life inspired the award-winning motion picture, ‘Hotel Rwanda’ has been arrested.
Rusesabagina was revered as a hero after he saved hundreds of Rwandans by sheltering them in the hotel he managed during the genocide. The Rwanda Investigation Bureau announced the information via its official Twitter page.
“RIB informs the general public that, through international cooperation, Paul Rusesabagina was arrested and is in the custody of RIB,” one of the tweets read.
“Rusesabagina is suspected to be the founder, leader, sponsor and member of violent, armed, extremist terror outfits including MRCD and PDR-Ihumure, operating out of various places in the region and abroad,” the statement continues, adding that he has “been subject of an International Arrest Warrant, wanted to answer charges of serious crime including terrorism, arson, kidnap and murder, perpetrated against unarmed, innocent Rwandan civilians on Rwandan territory…”
The RIB did not go into specifics about how they deduced Rusesabagina carried out his alleged crimes.
Kitty Kurth, a spokeswoman for his Hotel Rwanda Rusesabagina Foundation, says she believes he has been kidnapped.
“We believe he was kidnapped and taken by extraordinary rendition to Rwanda,” Kurth said in a statement per The New York Times. “He is a regular critic of human rights violations in Rwanda, and the Rwandan government regularly brings false charges against all critics in order to try to silence them.”
Rusesabagina’s adopted daughter, Carine Kanimba, also believes that the charges against her father are bogus. “We’re hoping to secure his release quickly and safely,” she told the Associated Press.
Kanimba maintains that her father has long been a target because of his criticism of President Paul Kagame’s government. “What they’re accusing him of is all made up. There is no evidence to what they’re claiming … We know this is a wrongful arrest.”
Rusesabagina left Rwanda years ago and is a Belgian citizen and a permanent resident in the US.
