At a court hearing in the Rwandan capital, Kigali, Paul Rusesabagina, the man portrayed as a hero in Hollywood movie Hotel Rwanda about the genocide, said that though he was part of a group that formed the National Liberation Front (FLN) rebel movement it was \u201cnot for terrorism activities\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The FLN is the military wing of the foreign-based opposition Rwandan Movement for Democratic Change (MRCD) and Mr Rusesabagina is its vice-president. It launched deadly attacks in south-west Rwanda between 2018 and 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mr Rusesabagina is facing 13 charges relating to terrorism and has been detained since he was brought to the country under mysterious circumstances at the end of August.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He has made no comment on the charges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This was the first time he had appeared in court in a prison uniform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said he helped create the rebel group to \u201cattract attention of the Rwandan government on issues of Rwandan refugees\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But he added that he “wouldn\u2019t downplay the crimes done by the FLN”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The prosecutor said that Mr Rusesabagina could in no way distance himself from the rebel atrocities as he was a top leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mr Rusesabagina responded by saying he was in charge of political activities and the military group was independent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court hearing was related to his application for bail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
BBC Africa News<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" At a court hearing in the Rwandan capital, Kigali, Paul Rusesabagina, the man portrayed as a hero in Hollywood movie Hotel Rwanda about the genocide, said that though he was part of a group that formed the National Liberation Front (FLN) rebel movement it was \u201cnot for terrorism activities\u201d. The FLN is the military wing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27983,"featured_media":18697,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_paywall_metabox":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[161],"tags":[31,2333,1838],"class_list":["post-18696","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world","tag-featured","tag-national-liberation-front","tag-paul-rusesabagina"],"yoast_head":"\n