NAIROBI, Kenya – Rwanda’s attorney general inadvertently revealed that he had intercepted privileged and confidential legal materials in the ongoing terrorism case against Paul Rusesabagina, the prominent dissident whose efforts to save more than 1,200 people during the country’s genocide were portrayed in the film Oscar nominee “Hotel Rwanda.”
In a video interview published by Al Jazeera English, Johnston Busingye, who is Minister of Justice and Attorney General, dismissed accusations that the authorities had confiscated Rusesabagina’s papers or trampled on the attorney-client privilege.
But in an hour and a half prep video that his public relations team accidentally sent to the media, Mr. Busingye contradicted himself, saying that prison officials had intercepted the correspondence between Mr. Rusesabagina and his lawyers and children, some of which included escape plans.
Mr. Busingye also discussed with the team how to answer questions about whether the Rwandan government paid for the flight that in August brought Mr. Rusesabagina to Kigali, where he was arrested on charges of murder, armed robbery and being a member of a terrorist organization.
The latest revelations came just hours after a Rwandan court ruled on Friday that it had jurisdiction to try Rusesabagina – a Belgian citizen and a permanent resident of the United States. It also occurred when the trial was widely condemned by entities, including human rights groups, members of the United States Congress and the European Parliament.
The latest disclosures, his lawyers say, also obscure Rusesabagina’s prospects for a fair hearing, as his international lawyers have not been allowed to enter Kigali to represent him and prison authorities continue to confiscate his files. Rusesabagina, a former hotelier, told his lawyers that he is afraid of dying of a stroke in prison, and his family members said they remain concerned about the deterioration of his health.
During the interview with Al Jazeera, Busingye denied that Rusesabagina’s communication with his lawyers was intercepted. But “if that happened, it will be brought up in the courts and the courts will treat you fairly,” he told Al Jazeera interviewer Marc Lamont Hill on the “UpFront” program.
In another clip broadcast by Al Jazeera, Busingye is seen receiving advice on how to answer questions about who paid for the private jet that brought Rusesabagina to Kigali. In the video, the public relations consultant can be heard warning the minister to be “cautious” because the interviewer was “looking for something they could publish in a press release about the interview – looking for nuggets of heavy material”.
When Hill, from Al Jazeera, asked him who paid for the jet, Busingye said the Rwandan government had done so.
Since Rusesabagina was presented to the press in handcuffs in Kigali on August 31, doubts have arisen about how he got there.
He left his home in San Antonio, Texas, and arrived in Dubai on an Emirates flight from Chicago on the night of August 27. Then he stayed at the Ibis Hotel in Dubai, according to a document from the UAE mission in Geneva, and five hours later he boarded a private jet that he believed was going to Burundi, where he planned to speak to churches at the invitation of a pastor. place.
The next day, the plane, operated by Greece-based charter company GainJet, landed in Kigali, where it was arrested, tied and interrogated.
Rwandan authorities, including in interviews with The New York Times, previously confirmed that they had hired the charter service for government operations, but never explicitly confirmed that they had rented the exact flight that brought Rusesabagina to Kigali.
In December, Rusesabagina and his family sued GainJet for their role in the episode.
After his arrest, President Paul Kagame – whose government has been trying to arrest Rusesabagina, 66, for years – dubbed the operation “perfect” and said it was not a kidnapping.
As for Rusesabagina’s escape plans, his daughter Carine Kanimba said she had received messages on WhatsApp and Twitter since November from a person who claimed to be one of her father’s prison guards. The messages, both audio and written and reviewed by The Times, described Rusesabagina’s routine and suggested ways to help him escape.
“I never answered,” said Kanimba in a telephone interview. “My fear was that I would respond and that they would use it against my father.”
In December, the family also shared the material with the FBI, the US State Department and Belgium’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
On Friday, Rwandan authorities doubled their position, calling the prison “legal and adequate”. In a statement, the Ministry of Justice said that Mr. Busingye became aware of a “possible violation” in December regarding privileged documents, and that he had instructed them to be returned to Mr. Rusesabagina.
Kate Gibson, Rusesabagina’s top lawyer, contested the statement, saying her papers “continue to be routinely and systematically confiscated, including her privileged and confidential materials”. Mrs. Gibson is one of three lawyers who are awaiting permission to represent the former hotelier in Kigali.
Last week, she said, Rusesabagina was prevented from going to the cell with his documents.
“Now we see in Al Jazeera’s preparation video that the content of privileged and confidential legal documents is reaching the highest levels,” she said by email. “The right to confidential communication is at the heart of legal representation. Without it, it is impossible to consider fair procedures. “