- US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Rwandan President Paul Kagame in Kigali.
- He expressed concerns about the lack of fair trial guarantees for critics of Kagame.
- Blinken mentioned “Hotel Rwanda” hero Paul Rusesabagina, who was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
During his meeting with Rwandan President Paul Kagame in Kigali on Thursday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken expressed “serious concerns” about human rights.
“As I told President Kagame, we believe people in every country should be able to express their views without fear of intimidation, imprisonment, violence or any other forms of repression,” said Blinken.
Met with @UrugwiroVillage and @Vbiruta about the U.S.-Rwanda relationship and how to reduce tensions and ongoing violence in the region. We also discussed U.S. concerns about democracy and human rights in Rwanda, including the wrongful detention of Paul Rusesabagina. pic.twitter.com/ZymNMisHDk
— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) August 11, 2022
He also mentioned “Hotel Rwanda” hero Paul Rusesabagina, a fierce Kagame critic who was sentenced to 25 years in prison last year on terrorism charges.
The US State Department stated in May that Rusesabagina had been “wrongfully detained” by Kigali.
Blinken said he “underscored our concerns about the lack of fair trial guarantees provided to (Rusesabagina)” during his talks with Kagame.
Rusesabagina, a Kigali hotel manager at the time, is credited with saving hundreds of lives during Rwanda’s genocide in 1994, and his actions inspired the Hollywood film “Hotel Rwanda.”
He has been imprisoned since his arrest in August 2020, when a plane he thought was bound for Burundi instead landed in Kigali. His family has expressed concern about his declining health.
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