Hotel Rwanda hero Paul Rusesabagina convicted of terror charges

Paul Rusesabagina did not attend on Monday. Credit: AP

The man who inspired the film Hotel Rwanda, Paul Rusesabagina, has been found guilty of terror-related offences.Rusesabagina called the trial a "sham" and did not attend the verdicts announcement on Monday, saying he did not anticipate justice being done.He has been found guilty of forming an illegal armed group and membership of a terrorist group. Rusesabagina disappeared during a visit to Dubai and re-appeared days later handcuffed in Rwanda, accused of supporting the armed wing of opposition political platform, Rwandan Movement for Democratic Change.

The group is responsible for attacks in 2018 and 2019 in the south of the country in which nine people have died.

Rusesabagina has been found guilty. Credit: AP

Rusesabagina has maintained his innocence, and his family alleges he was kidnapped and taken to Rwanda against his will.

His legal representative, Felix Rudakemwa, claims Rusesabagina's legal papers were confiscated by prison authorities. His family has feared he might die from poor health if incarcerated.In Hotel Rwanda, which received Oscar nominations, Rusesabagina was played by Don Cheadle.

He was hotel manager who protected more than 1,000 people in need of shelter, during a period in Rwanda in 1994 when 800,000 people, mainly from the Tutsi ethnic group, were slaughtered.

Rusesabagina has won numerous international honours including the United States Presidential Medal of Freedom, which President George W Bush awarded him in 2005, and the Lantos Human Rights Prize in 2011.

Rusesabagina is still awaiting verdicts on other charges, including murder, abduction, and armed robbery as an act of terrorism.