As testimonies and evidence pile up against the suspects in the trial of 22 leaders and members of the terror grouping FLN, the western mainstream media remains faithful to its anti-Rwanda narrative. While the media onslaught was somehow excusable seven months ago given how little most people knew about Rusesabagina’s terror activities, it has become more and more obvious that it serves no purpose other than shielding the Hollywood creation from justice. Tom Zoellner and Keir Pearsons’ America’s disastrous love affair with Rwanda’s Paul Kagame illustrates how reputable media houses have had difficulty coming to terms with the idea that the man they celebrated for so many years as a ‘hero’ and a ‘humanitarian’ is indeed the leader of a terrorist group. As a result, they are making a mockery of themselves and the media houses they publish in because the evidence has so far been impeccable. It is a disaster. First, nobody denies that there have been several terrorist attacks on the Rwandan territory that targeted and claimed the lives of innocent civilians. On December 17th, 2018, following the attacks, the German Embassy issued a travel advisory notice to its citizens. “There are risks of terrorist attacks in the area of the Nyungwe Forest National Park,” the notice read in part. Shortly after that, at the end of December 2018, Rusesabagina appeared in a recorded video in which he claimed responsibility for these attacks, incited Rwandans to join the war against the “Kagame army” and pledged his “unreserved support” to the FLN. The then FLN spokesperson, “Major” Callixte Nsabimana, who is among Rusesabagina co-accused has pleaded guilty to all charges and has repeatedly asked for forgiveness from the Rwandan people. As for Rusesabagina, whom Nsabimana refers to as his boss, he has so far refused to take responsibility for the killings despite doing so prior to his arrest in the video above. “We formed the FLN (National Liberation Front) as an armed wing, not as a terrorist group as the prosecution keeps saying. I do not deny that the FLN committed crimes but my role was diplomacy,” Rusesabagina told the court. If Rusesabagina himself admits to forming an armed group that committed crimes, why do Zoellner and Pearsons claim that the charges against him are “widely seen as trumped-up charges”? The truth is, the western media has so far, conspicuously, avoided scrutinizing the charges and has mainly distracted its audience with a sideshow of unsubstantiated “kidnap” allegations. Second, the testimony of Professor Michelle Martin in court, a US citizen and former associate of Rusesabagina, has completely discredited Zoellner and Pearson’s two key claims. Rusesabagina was not “falsely accused of funding” the genocidal group FDLR as the two authors claim. Professor Martin testified that during her collaboration with Rusesabagina’s foundation, she collected evidence demonstrating the suspect’s involvement with the FDLR and handed them over to US law enforcement. Later, on October 4th, 2013, the US Department of Justice wrote to Rwanda’s Prosecution authority confirming that Rusesabagina personally transferred funds to FDLR. The letter is included in the case file. These facts, supported by meticulously documented and verifiable evidence, are consistent with claims made by the then Prosecutor General, Martin Ngoga in 2011, who revealed that his office had obtained “new evidence implicating Paul Rusesabagina in financing terror activities”. These accusations complement Callixte Nsabimana’s recent testimony in which he affirmed that Rusesabagina provided $150,000 to the FLN terror group. At this point, to support the idea that Rusesabagina’s role in the FLN was diplomacy is akin to arguing that Bin Laden’s role in Al-Qaida was that of “communication expert.” Further, it is blatantly false that witness testimony cannot be trusted to form one’s opinion about Rusesabagina’s guilt because “it is too easily coerced in Rwanda today” as the two authors claim. Professor Martin’s mere presence, as a foreigner, defeats this unfounded assertion. On the contrary, her testimony reveals that she started receiving death threats from Rusesabagina’s supporters the moment they discovered that she had decided to denounce their criminal activities. The threats came from the same circles that purport to bring “democracy” to Rwanda by pushing wild allegations against the Rwandan government in Human Rights Watch’s reports while enjoying western media coverage. Tragic and shameful! Furthermore, Zoellner and Pearson’s silly claim that Rusesabagina was denied legal representation has even less legal grounding than their “kidnapping” theory, which was dismissed by the court. Article 6 of the Law N°83/2013 of 11/09/2013, establishing the Rwanda Bar Association and determining its organization and functioning states clearly, “a foreigner may also be allowed to practice the Advocates’ profession on condition of reciprocity”. The law was enacted in 2013 and it applies to all defendants, not just Rusesabagina, who consequently is represented by Rwandan lawyers. Moreover, in Zoellner and Pearson’ view, it is as if the Rwandan government or President Kagame are in the dock instead of Rusesabagina. They regurgitate baseless allegations of human rights abuses against the Rwandan government, as if that makes Rusesabagina look any less guilty. If the suspect wants to raise the human rights record of the Rwandan government as mitigating circumstances for his crimes, he should first plead guilty and then explain to the court the reasons as to why he engaged in terrorism. However, he might struggle to explain why his henchmen targeted the very civilians for whose rights he proclaimed to fight. Finally, it’s rather amusing that these allegations of abuses on the part of the government are presented as undisputable facts when they are built on pure speculations while hard, verifiable, documented evidence implicating Rusesabagina in terror activities is dismissed, or drown in counter-accusations that are irrelevant to the trial. On this, we take Rusesabagina’s own words when he took responsibility for the Nyabimata killings of innocent civilians. The facts are there for all to see. No propaganda, even using the mighty CNN, is powerful enough to erase them.
