He appeared earlier than the Nyarugenge intermediate court docket Friday within the capital, Kigali, the place a choose dominated {that a} determination might be made on his bail software October 2.
Rusesabagina, 66, was interesting towards final week’s ruling to remand him for 30 days.
His legal professionals, Emelin Nyembo and David Rugaza, instructed the court docket that Rusesabagina shouldn’t be tried for crimes dedicated by the MRCD occasion, a coalition of opposition events. The group’s army wing, FLN, is accused of a number of assaults on Rwandan territory in 2018.
Rusesabagina faces 13 costs associated to terrorism, and is accused of being the “founder, chief and sponsor of violent, armed, extremist terror outfits,” Rwandan authorities have mentioned.
He admitted to the court docket that he was a member of the MRCD and that normal choices had been taken beneath the management of all events, with every occasion having completely different capabilities.
He mentioned, “MRCD was a coalition of 4 opposition political events, my very own occasion PDR-Ihumure was in control of diplomatic mission, CNRD occasion was in control of army operations therefore forming army wing (Nationwide Liberation Entrance-FLN), others had different duties.”
“The FLN was an armed group with particular position, mine was completely different. I used to be in control of diplomacy,” he added.
At a listening to on September 17, the choose mentioned the court docket had analyzed all 13 costs towards Rusesabagina and concluded that there have been compelling causes to remand him for 30 days.
His legal professionals questioned the jurisdiction of the court docket to attempt their shopper, saying he’s a citizen of Belgium, with residence in the US.
It’s a sentiment echoed by his household. His daughter Carine Kanimba instructed CNN that he has no proper to be placed on trial as a Rwandan, as a Belgian citizen.
“We don’t settle for this entire try at pretending that it is a truthful trial. We’re begging the worldwide group to assist us. We’re apprehensive that they’ll kill him and so they have already silenced him. The images we noticed of him in court docket instructed us that he’s frail and weak,” she mentioned.
Kanimba mentioned {that a} Belgian diplomat was capable of go to her father, however that Rwandan officers had been current.
There are additionally questions on how Rusesabagina got here to be in Rwanda. His household believes he was kidnapped from Dubai in late August. In a video interview with the New York Instances on September 15, Rusesabagina mentioned he was imagined to go on a non-public aircraft to Burundi to talk to church buildings on August 28, however when he awakened, he was in Rwanda surrounded by troopers.
Longstanding Kagame critic
Round 800,000 Tutsis and average Hutus had been killed within the genocide, which was led by Hutu extremists.
Rusesabagina additionally holds Belgian citizenship, in accordance with a authorities supply in Belgium.
Crackdown on opposition
Rusesabagina has not lived in Rwanda since 1996, when he survived an assassination try.
Whereas extensively praised for remodeling Rwanda within the aftermath of the genocide, Kagame has additionally confronted widespread criticism for human rights abuses and a crackdown on opposition.
Opposition politicians in Rwanda have usually discovered themselves jailed on what they are saying are trumped-up costs for standing towards Kagame in polls.
In one of many extra extensively publicized instances, Diane Rwigara and her mom had been jailed when the previous tried to run for president in the identical election as Kagame in 2017.
Victoire Ingabire, the chief of the FDU-Inkingi occasion, was jailed in 2010 for costs that included collaborating with a terrorist group, “divisionism,” “minimizing the genocide” and “genocide ideology.”
She had returned to the nation from the Netherlands to contest within the 2010 presidential elections after years of dwelling overseas however was barred from working, and served eight years of a 15-year jail sentence earlier than receiving a presidential pardon in 2018.
CNN’s Stephanie Halasz contributed to this report.
