Chris Bryant, a member of the British Parliament, has demanded that two Rwandans, including former Rwandan Justice Minister Johnston Busingye, who was recently appointed as the British Ambassador, to be sanctioned because of aiding Rusesabagina Kidnap.
The UK MPs also demand the sanctions on Col (Rtd) Jeannot Ruhunga, Secretary General of the Rwanda Investigation Bureau (RIB).
Mr Bryant made the remarks during the parliament session on Wednesday in the Westminster Hall of the British Parliament, he also called on other leaders in countries such as Sudan and Iran to be sanctioned under Magnitsky legislation amid of violating human rights.
In February, 2021 Mr Busingye admitted to Al Jazeera television that Rwanda paid the flight that kidnapped Rusesabagina from Dubai to Kigali.
In a statement published on Twitter, MP Chris Bryant, a member of the opposition party Labor Party, said:
“In August last year, Paul Rusesabagina, based on the film Hotel Rwanda … strongly criticized President [Paul] Kagame … he was given drugs, put on a plane and forcibly returned to Rwanda, where he was detained and tortured” –
Busingye should be on our list of people who must be sanctioned instead of being escorted to the Buckingham Palace [where the diplomats have to present the papers that allow them to represent their countries] to the Queen Elisabeth II”.
The statement of Mp Chris Bryant was also supported by MP Iain Duncan Smith, a member of the Conservative party, according to a Twitter post by the All-Party Group on Magnitsky Sanctions, which called for sanctions to be imposed “without fear of retaliation”.
At the trial this year, the cleric testified that he deceived Rusesabagina and took him on a flight to Kigali while he knew he was going to Bujumbura in Burundi.
Paul Rusesabagina says that in August he intended to visit Burundi but after he boarded a private flight in Dubai he was instead flown to Rwanda.
Rusesabagina did not defend himself, withdrawing from the case after the witness, saying he did not expect justice in the Court trial.
On August 31 ,2021 President Paul Kagame has appointed Mr. Busingye, the Rwandan Ambassador to the United Kingdom – after eight years as Minister of Justice, but has not yet taken office.
On September 20, 2021, 67-year-old Rusesabagina was sentenced to 25 years in prison on a charge of terrorism.
In October 2021, the prosecution has Lodged an appeal praying for life imprisonment.
In the Oscar-nominated movie Hotel Rwanda, Rusesabagina, played by Don Cheadle, was shown as a hotel manager who managed to protect more than 1,000 people who had sought shelter.
In a period of 100 days from April 1994, 800,000 people, mostly from the Tutsi ethnic group, were slaughtered by extremists from the Hutu.
Rusesabagina’s profile was raised following its release, his criticism of the post-genocide government and President Paul Kagame gained a wider audience.
He spoke about human rights abuses and alleged that the government was targeting Hutus.
In a 2018 video message, he called for regime change saying that “the time has come for us to use any means possible to bring about change in Rwanda”.