Skip to main content

Paul Rusesabagina Hotel Rwanda 'hero' admits forming armed group behind deadly attacks

 

Hotel Rwanda

Paul Rusesabagina, portrayed in a 2004 Hollywood movie as a hero who helped save Tutsis during the Rwandan genocide, on Friday September 25 admitted to forming an armed group but denied any role in their crimes.

 

The 66-year-old former hotel manager who was arrested after being lured into a private jet under false pretences, had co-founded the Rwandan Movement for Democratic Change (MRCD), an opposition party based abroad.

 

While in exile, he had also expressed support for the National Liberation Front (FLN) which has claimed responsibility for a series of attacks in Nyungwe, near the border with Burundi, but his exact role has been unclear.

 

Dressed in a pink prison uniform for his bail hearing on Friday, Rusesabagina told a Kigali court that he helped to form the National Liberation Front to assist Rwandan refugees but never supported violence.

 

He said; 

 

"We formed the FLN (National Liberation Front) as an armed wing, not as a terrorist group as the prosecution keeps saying. I do not deny that the FLN committed crimes but my role was diplomacy. 

"The agreement we signed to form MRCD as a political platform included the formation of an armed wing called FLN. But my work was under the political platform and I was in charge of diplomacy."

 

The judge postponed ruling on his application for bail until October  2.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Man raises alarm after spotting a civilian man roaming the streets of Abuja with an AK47

                                                   A Nigerian man, Olumide Olaniyan, has raised alarm after spotting another man believed to be a civilian, pictured above, roaming the streets in Nyanya, Abuja with an AK47 hung on his body. Read what Olumide wrote below I was driving along Mararaba-Nyanya road this morning. I saw this man with a gun that looks like AK-47 or an automatic gun, I initially thought he is a security personnel, but, his dress, shoes and overall shabby look suggests otherwise. I was tempted to go ask him about his ID card and why he was such a psychological violence to onlookers. Then, I remembered Maama Sunde's counsel those days I used to do student activism at the University of Bariga, "ma se...
Post a Comment
Read more

U.S. Coast Guard seizes 35,000 pounds of cocaine worth $466 million in Eastern Pacific Ocean

The U.S. Coast Guard announced a major drug bust after they seized close to 35,000 pounds of cocaine from suspected drug smuggling vessels in Eastern Pacific Ocean. The drugs, worth an estimated wholesale value of $466 million, were intercepted off the coasts of Mexico, and Central and South America and off-loaded in Port Everglades, Florida on Tuesday, the Coast Guard said in a news release. In the statement, it was revealed that the U.S. Coast Guard offloaded approximately 34,780 pounds of cocaine. Six different crews seized the drugs from 21 separate vessels stopped in Pacific waters. The haul was the "result of the collaboration and coordination of multiple Coast Guard and interagency assets to address the complex maritime challenge of transnational criminal organizations,” Cmdr. Michael Sharp said. Most of the drugs originate in Colombia and are destined for the U.S., according to Schultz.
Post a Comment
Read more

EFCC Arraigns Two for Internet Fraud

                                       The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Ibadan Zonal Office, on January 23, 2019 arraigned Adeniyi Ebenezer and Oluwagbenga Ejikunle (aka Ayomide Kate and Sussan Ayoola) before Justice O. Akanbi of the Osun State High Court, sitting in Osogbo on separate three-count charge each bordering on obtaining money by false pretence and possession of fraudulent documents. One of the charges preferred against Ebenezer reads: “That you, A deniyi Ebenezer (aka Mary Oliver) sometimes in 2016, at Ilesha within jurisdiction of this Honourable Court by false pretence and with intent to defraud, obtained Gift Cards worth $100 USD from Anthony, a United States of America Citizen when you falsely represented to him that you are a white woman (Mary Oliver) and other false pretences which you knew to be false and thereby committed an offence”.   ...
Post a Comment
Read more