The High Court Chamber for International and Cross-border crimes on Monday, September 20, delivered rulings to 21 defendants in a highly-publicised case, dubbed FLN Trial. The sentences, a culmination of months-long trial, saw key suspects Paul Rusesabagina and Callixte Nsabimana, alias Sankara, both co-founders of the MRCD coalition and its armed wing FLN, receive 25- and 20-year jail terms, respectively. Both men were found to have played a central role in the terrorist attacks that killed at least nine people between 2018 and 2019 in south-western Rwanda, while their co-accused were also convicted of various charges in connection with acts of terrorism. As with other defendants in the case, both men received lenient sentences owing to cooperation throughout proceedings (in the case of Nsabimana) and partial cooperation in the early stages of the case (in the case of Rusesabagina). The court also struck down several charges against most of the accused – including the charge of formation of an irregular armed group – and generally delivered what many view as lenient sentences considering the gravity of the charges. Some of the defendants are expected to walk from jail in a matter of months after they were slapped with three or five years in prison, having already been held for periods nearly corresponding to the sentences received. Yesterday’s verdicts, while they do not undo the harm suffered by the victims, represent justice for the victims of the cowardly terrorist attacks. That the victims of the MRCD-FLN attacks have been ignored by most western media, who have been keen to project the case as politically motivated despite the overwhelming evidence against Rusesabagina and the other convicts, is a matter of public knowledge. This is despite the fact some of the evidence presented to court by prosecutors was provided by investigators from Belgium, a country from where Rusesabagina committed some of the crimes. Victims of the FLN attacks are not just a number, they were cherished sons and daughters, hardworking mothers and fathers, breadwinners of their families. We can only hope that justice eases the pain of the victims’ families, at least in some way.
