‘Hotel Rwanda’ Hero Paul Rusesabagina’s Terrorism Trial Begins

KAMPALA, Uganda—The demo of a U.S. resident hailed as a hero and immortalized by Hollywood for conserving much more than 1,200 individuals throughout the Rwandan genocide began Wednesday in the country’s money, in a case viewed as spotlighting President Paul Kagame’s attempts to quell political dissent across the world.

Paul Rusesabagina, a 66-yr-old receiver of the Presidential Medal of Flexibility who was portrayed in the Oscar-nominated movie “Hotel Rwanda,” appeared with 20 other suspects to deal with terrorism expenses, like forming a rebel group and in search of to start an armed insurrection.

Mr. Rusesabagina, a critic of Mr. Kagame’s federal government who has lived between the U.S. and Belgium for much more than a decade, says the expenses are politically inspired. He was arrested last yr right after disappearing throughout a pay a visit to to Dubai airport, before staying paraded in Kigali, the Rwandan money, in handcuffs. Mr. Kagame, who says Mr. Rusesabagina is a fugitive dependable for funding terrorism, denied he experienced been kidnapped but called the procedure flawless.

The trial—which has been commonly condemned by human-rights teams, users of U.S. Congress and the European Parliament, among the others—is staying viewed as a sign that Rwanda’s federal government is ready to reach considerably beyond its borders to squash dissent.

Mr. Kagame, in electric power for twenty years, has won plaudits for reducing poverty, attracting overseas money from support agencies and personal buyers, and winning support from Western leaders like Monthly bill Clinton and Tony Blair.