He appeared in the Neurojeng Central Court in the capital, Kigali, on Friday, where a judge ruled that his bail application would be decided on October 2.
Roussebigina, 66, appealed last week’s 30-day remand.
His lawyers, Emelyn Naimbo and David Rugaza, told the court that Rusabagina should not be prosecuted for crimes committed by the opposition MRCD party. The group’s military wing, the FLN, has been accused of multiple attacks on Rwandan territory in 2018.
Rusabegina faces 13 terrorism-related charges, and is accused of being “the founder, leader and sponsor of violent, armed, extremist terrorist organizations,” Rwandan officials said.
He admitted in court that he was a member of the MRCD and since the governance of each party was different, general decisions were taken under the leadership of all parties.
“The MRCD was a coalition of four opposition political parties. My own party, the PDR-IHUMUR, was in charge of the diplomatic mission. The CNRD was in charge of military operations, so the military wing (National Liberation Front-FLN) was formed. Had others. Responsibilities. “
“The FLN was an armed group with a specific role, mine was different. I was in charge of diplomacy,” he added.
At the Sept. 17 hearing, the judge said the court had analyzed all 13 charges against Rusabagina and concluded there were strong reasons for obtaining a 30-day remand.
His lawyers questioned the court’s jurisdiction to try his client, saying he is a Belgian citizen, living in the United States.
It is a spirit echoed by his family. His daughter, Karin Kanimba, told CNN she had no right to be put on trial as a Rwandan citizen.
“We do not accept this whole effort as a fair trial. We are appealing to the international community to help. We are worried that they will kill him and they have silenced him. The pictures we saw in court.” “We’re told he’s weak and vulnerable.”
Kanimba said the Belgian diplomat was able to visit his father, but Rwandan officials were present.
There are also questions about how Rusebagi came to be in Rwanda. His family believes he was abducted in Dubai in late August. In a video interview with the New York Times on September 15, Rusabagina said he was going on a private plane to Burundi to talk to the church on August 28, but when he woke up he was in Rwanda surrounded by soldiers.
Longtime paper critic
About 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed in the massacre led by the assassinated terrorists.
Rousseau also has Belgian citizenship, according to a Belgian government source.
Clash over protest
Rusebagi has not lived in Rwanda since 1996, when he survived an assassination attempt.
While Rwanda was widely praised for its transformation after the genocide, Kagame has also faced widespread criticism for human rights abuses and crackdowns on the opposition.
Opposition politicians in Rwanda have often thrown themselves in jail for allegedly running for office.
In more widely publicized cases, Diane Rvigara and her mother were jailed while previous people tried to run for president in the same election as Kagame in 2017.
FDU-Inkingi Party leader Victor Ingabier was jailed in 2010 on charges including terrorist organization, “separatism”, “reducing genocide” and “ideology of genocide”.
After years abroad, she returned from the Netherlands to run in the 2010 presidential election, but was barred from running, and was sentenced to eight years in prison before receiving a presidential pardon in 2018.
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