In response to the US request to free government critic Paul Rusesabagina, Rwandan President Paul Kagame stated that nobody would “bully us” regarding domestic matters in his country.
When discussing African issues outside of the US-Africa Summit in Washington, Mr. Kagame was asked if the US’s support of Mr. Rusesabagina through Antony Blinken was “helping or hurting” his case.
Mr. Kagame claimed that because “this person is a celebrity,” “somebody in America” wanted the case to be “nullified.”
On terrorism-related charges, Mr. Rusesabagina and 20 other defendants were found guilty last year.
“If we let him free, how about these other 20 who pointed him as even being their leader?” President Kagame asked.
“We have made it clear, there isn’t anybody going to come from anywhere to bully us into something to do with our lives – you can maybe make an invasion and overrun the country,” he added sarcastically.
Mr Rusesabagina, 68, was depicted as a hero in a Hollywood movie on the Rwandan genocide.
He was sentenced to 25 years in jail after being tricked into boarding a private jet from Dubai to Rwanda’s capital Kigali, thinking he was heading to Bujumbura in Burundi.
Mr Rusesabagina’s family has called the trial a sham, saying he was taken to Rwanda, from exile, by force.
The US has stated that Mr Rusesabagina is being “wrongfully detained” in Rwanda