Sure.Rwandan authorities have denied a lawyer access to Paul Rusesabagina nearly a week after the outspoken government critic was paraded in handcuffs and accused of terrorism.
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Rusesabagina was awarded the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2005 for saving the lives of more than 1,200 people as a hotel manager during Rwanda's 1994 genocide in which some 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed.
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In a statement early Saturday, the Hotel Rwanda Rusesabagina Foundation said Rusesabagina, a U.S. permanent resident and Belgian citizen, has had no consular visits, and it rejected the Rwandan government's claim that it had talked to his sons about a potential visit as "not true."
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The family has said they believe he was "kidnapped" during a visit to Dubai and that he would never knowingly have boarded a plane for Rwanda's capital, Kigali. He has lived outside the East African nation since 1996.
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Rwandan authorities have not responded to questions about how and where Rusesabagina was apprehended, and have not publicly shared any international arrest warrant.
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Rwandan authorities have granted what they called an "exclusive" interview with Rusesabagina to a Kenyan newspaper, The East African, in which he said he had been treated with "kindness" but did not discuss the accusations against him or how he was apprehended.
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The Rwandan government has said it issued an arrest warrant for Rusesabagina to answer charges of serious crimes including terrorism, arson, kidnap, and murder perpetrated against unarmed civilians. Police called him the suspected "founder, leader, sponsor and member of violent, armed, extremist terror outfits including the Rwanda Movement for Democratic Change."
Rwanda points to a video posted online in 2018 in which Rusesabagina says "it is imperative that in 2019 we speed up the liberation struggle of the Rwandan people ... the time has come for us to use any means possible to bring about change in Rwanda, as all political means have been tried and failed."
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Rusesabagina in the past has denied the charges that he financially supports Rwandan rebels, saying he is being targeted for criticizing the administration of President Paul Kagame over human rights abuses.
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The U.S. government has said it expects the Rwandan government to provide "humane treatment, adhere to the rule of law and provide a fair and transparent legal process" for Rusesabagina.
If you haven't seen the movie "Hotel Rwanda", I recommend it, and caution you that it has some very disturbing scenes.
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