The trial of Paul Rusesabagina and 20 others with whom he is co-accused of perpetrating terror activities on Rwandan soil will resume Thursday, July 15 at the High Court Specialised Chamber for International and Cross Border Crimes. The case was last heard by court on June 23. The High Court is using the Supreme Court Chambers in Kigali to conduct the trial. The group is being prosecuted in relation to attacks carried out in various parts of the country in 2018 and 2019 by the FLN outfit, a military wing of the MRCD coalition led by Paul Rusesabagina. By the time of its adjournment in June, the judges, headed by Antoine Muhima, had heard the final submissions of two suspects, Callixte Nsabimana (Sankara) and Herman Nsengimana. Rusesabagina has continued to skip the hearings. Prosecution had also earlier sought varying penalties for all the accused depending on their level of involvement in the FLN attacks in which at least nine people died, others injured and property looted. The proposed penalties ranged from life imprisonment for suspects including Rusesabagina and “Colonel” Marc Nizeyimana, a former top commander in the FLN, to lengthy jail terms for people like Callixte Nsabimana (25 years), a former spokesperson of the terror group. In the last hearing that took place on June 23, defendants had begun presenting their reactions to the proposed penalties, starting with Nsabimana who asked for a more lenient penalty, saying he had been cooperative throughout his trial and was remorseful for what he did. On the same day, Nsengimana, who had replaced Sankara as FLN spokesperson when the latter was arrested, also presented his final submissions in regard to the 20-year jail penalty that prosecution proposed for him. He said that court should use its discretionary powers to give him a punishment commensurate with the crimes committed, but also put into account mitigation circumstances, including his cooperation with judicial officers. He called for fairness, saying that some fellow fighters who were captured with him in DR Congo were rehabilitated and reintegrated, asking why they were also not brought in court to account for the same crimes he stands accused of. “When I was repatriated from the DRC to Rwanda, I was together with about 400 other people who had been part of FLN and MRCD; some of them my seniors. But they are not being prosecuted like me,” he said. “Good enough I am here, where justice is. If you deem it fit for me to serve 20 years in jail, I will serve it to completion,” he said. He also made a passionate plea for forgiveness from Rwandans, before he broke down and cried.
