The family of Paul Rusesabagina, whose heroism in the 1994 Rwandan genocide was portrayed in the Hollywood film Hotel Rwanda, has filed a $ 400 million US lawsuit over his alleged kidnapping and torture by the Kigali government. The lawsuit names the Rwandan government, President Paul Kagame and other senior officials, including the former justice minister and intelligence chief. “The complaint alleges that the Rwandan government and high-ranking Rwandan officials conspired to facilitate and carry out a complex conspiracy to lure Paul Rusesabagina from his Texas home to Rwanda, where he would be tortured and illegally detained.” and his lawyers said in a statement Saturday. Holding a US green card as well as Belgian citizenship, Rusesabagina, 67, was tricked into traveling from the US to Burundi in 2020 with the promise of work. “Instead, he was drugged and transferred to Rwanda, where President Paul Kagame’s security agents forcibly abducted, tortured and forced him into illegal detention,” the statement said. He is now serving 25 years in prison on terrorism charges following a trial last year that his supporters say was full of irregularities.
Hotels in Rwanda
A copy of the lawsuit seen by the AFP news agency shows that the lawsuit was filed in a Washington court on February 22 and served on the Rwandan government on March 8. Rusasabagina’s family and lawyers will hold a press conference in Washington, DC on Wednesday, May 4 to announce further details of the lawsuit, which seeks at least $ 400 million in damages, as well as punitive damages. The Kigali government did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Rusesabagina became world famous after the release of Hotel Rwanda, which portrayed him risking his life to take refuge with hundreds of people as the manager of a luxury hotel in Kigali during the genocide when Hutu ethnic groups killed more than 800,000 people, mostly the Tutsi minority. American actor Don Cheadle has been nominated for an Oscar for his role as Rusesabagina. Rusesabagina later used his reputation to highlight what he described as human rights abuses by the government of Paul Kagame, a Tutsi rebel commander who came to power after his forces occupied Kigali and stopped the genocide. Moved to Rwanda in 2020 and convicted in September 2021 of joining a rebel group accused of deadly attacks in Rwanda in 2018 and 2019, Rusesabagina’s 25-year prison sentence was upheld by the Rwandan Court of Appeal earlier this month. His family said the verdict was essentially a death sentence for the 67-year-old.
