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A Rwandan court announced Thursday that it would deliver its verdict next month against the detained “Hotel Rwanda” activist turned government critic Paul Rusesabagina, who is accused of terrorism in a trial denounced as political by his supporters.
Last month, prosecutors called for a life sentence against Rusesabagina, who inspired the Hollywood film for his actions during the 1994 genocide that saved the lives of around 1,000 people.
Judge Antoine Muhima said the verdict in the trial against Rusesabagina and 20 other defendants, which opened in February, would be delivered on August 20.
The former manager of the Hotel des Mille Collines in Kigali was played by Don Cheadle in the 2004 film which recounted how he sheltered people during the genocide in which around 800,000 people died, most of them Tutsi ethnicity.
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.
The 67-year-old was arrested in August when a plane he believed was bound for Burundi landed in Kigali instead, a move his supporters describe as a kidnapping. He faces nine charges, including terrorism.
Kagame’s government accuses him of supporting the rebel group of the National Liberation Front (FLN), accused of attacks in 2018 and 2019 that left nine dead.
Rusesabagina denied any involvement in the attacks, but was one of the founders of the Rwandan Movement for Democratic Change (MRCD), an opposition group of which the FLN is considered the armed wing.
The announcement of the verdict date came just days after a media investigation claimed that Rusesabagina’s daughter had been spied on using Pegasus malware developed by Israeli company NSO.
Carine Kanimba, a dual US-Belgian nationality, played a key role in efforts to free Rusesabagina.
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