Paul Rusesabagina has been released from a Rwandan prison, according to U.S. officials, after the Rwandan government commuted his prison sentence following diplomatic efforts by the United States.
Rusesabagina, once a hotel manager in Rwanda's capital, Kigali, is credited with saving hundreds of lives during the country's 1994 genocide. His actions inspired the Hollywood film Hotel Rwanda.
U.S. officials say Rusesabagina was released from prison shortly before midnight Friday and was taken to the residence of the Qatari ambassador in Kigali. They say he will likely stay there a couple of days before flying to Qatar, which helped to broker his release."It is a relief to know that Paul is rejoining his family, and the U.S. government is grateful to the Rwandan government for making this reunion possible," Blinken said.
"We also thank the government of Qatar for their valuable assistance that will enable Paul's return to the United States," he added.that the sentences for several individuals, including Rusesabagina,"have been commuted by presidential order after consideration of their requests for clemency." The 68-year-old Rwandan hotelier-turned-dissident had been jailed in Rwanda since August 2020, when a plane he believed was headed for Burundi instead landed in Kigali.
After he left the plane, he was tried and convicted on a number of terrorism-related charges the following year, over his ties to an organization opposed to President Paul Kagame's rule.In his statement Friday, Blinken said there is"no place for political violence" in Rwanda and did not back Rwanda's accusations that Rusesabagina had engaged in such violence.
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