The case in which Paul Rusesabagina along with 20 others are being tried in connection to terror crimes perpetrated against Rwandan citizens is set to resume on Wednesday, June 16 at the High Court Chamber for International and Cross-Border Crimes sitting in Kigali. It had been adjourned for close to 3 weeks to give time to prosecution and defendants to prepare for the next stage which will mainly feature prosecution’s response to various arguments presented by the suspects during their defence. In addition, the prosecutors will also take time to ask court for penalties for each one of the defendants, depending on their respective responsibility in the terror crimes. Through an outfit called MRCD and its militia wing, FLN, the 21 suspects are being accused of conspiring to launch attacks in various parts of Rwanda in which at least nine people were killed, a number of others injured, and property destroyed or looted. The terror activities were committed between 2018 and 2019. Rusesabagina, who was the president of MRCD is accused of creation and being part of an irregular armed group, financing terrorism, terror activities for political gains, conspiracy to commit terror activities, commanding terror acts and being part of a terrorist group. He also faces the count of conspiracy and encouraging others to join a terror group, conspiracy to murder, conspiracy to kidnap, conspiracy to armed robbery, conspiracy to commit arson, conspiracy to aggravated assault and conspiracy to conscript children in an armed group. The other 20 suspects also face a litany of charges linked to terrorism. A number of them — according to prosecution — participated in the attacks, while others were working in various respects to support these terror activities. As the case continues to unfold, the defendants are also expected to have time to respond to a number of issues presented against them by prosecution and the civil party which seeks more than Rwf1.6 billion in compensation for the damages inflicted against Rwandan citizens due to the terror activities of the FLN.
