WASHINGTON: Paul Rusesabagina, who was portrayed as a hero in the film Hotel Rwanda, was released from a Rwandan prison on Friday (Mar 24), US officials said, after his sentence was commuted following intense diplomacy by the United States. Rusesabagina, a US permanent resident, was accompanied by a U
WASHINGTON: Paul Rusesabagina, who was portrayed as a hero in the film Hotel Rwanda, was released from a Rwandan prison on Friday , US officials said, after his sentence was commuted following intense diplomacy by the United States.
"There was no particular concession made by us as the government here," said one of the US officials, speaking on condition of anonymity."I think of this one much more as a sequence of steps that were worked out involving the Rwandan government, US government and of course Paul himself." He also said he had been kidnapped from Dubai in 2019 and returned to Rwanda by force. Kagame denied any abduction, but suggested Rusesabagina had been tricked in Dubai into boarding a plane to Rwanda.
A US congressional aide familiar with the negotiations, who declined to be named, noted that the case had resonance far beyond Africa, adding:"I think it became clear to the Rwandans that this irritant was not going to go away."
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