Paul Rusesabagina, the man who inspired the Hollywood film “Hotel Rwanda” and was released from a Kigali prison last week, returned to the United States on March 29, glamsquad reports
Rusesabagina is best known for sheltering hundreds of Rwandans during the 1994 genocide in the hotel he managed.
According to a State Department official, he arrived at the US Army’s Brooke Army Medical Center at Joint Base San Antonio on Wednesday.
“The United States government is committed to ensuring Mr. Rusesabagina and his family’s well-being is prioritized, and that all available assistance is provided in an appropriate and timely manner,” the official said. The official declined to provide further details, citing “privacy concerns and respect for the family.”
Rusesabagina’s daughter, Carine Kanimba, confirmed her father’s return on Twitter.
“PAUL RUSESABAGINA IS FREE,” she wrote, alongside a photo of her father smiling. “Dad just got here in San Antonio, Texas.”
“Thank you to EVERYONE who worked so hard to bring him home,” she went on to say. “Today, our family is finally reunited.”
According to reports, he will take part in the PISA program run by the Department of Defense (Post-Isolation Support Activities). Many recently released US wrongful detainees have taken part in the program, the length of which varies but has a maximum of 19 days to help them adjust back to normal life.
Rusesabagina, a US legal resident who had been designated as wrongfully detained by the US State Department, was released from prison in Rwanda last week after President Paul Kagame commuted his sentence. The commutation came after he requested a pardon from Kagame in an October 2022 letter.