"RIB informs the general public that, through international cooperation, Paul Rusesabagina was arrested and is in the custody of RIB … Rusesabagina is suspected to be the founder, leader, sponsor and member of violent, armed, extremist terror outfits including MRCD [Rwanda Movement for Democratic Change] and PDR-Ihumure, operating out of various places in the region and abroad," investigators said in a Twitter thread.
The Rwandan authorities had issued an international arrest warrant against Rusesabagina, who had previously been living in exile. He is being held in Kigali, the Rwandan capital, and faces charges of terrorism, arson, kidnap, and murder, the RIB said.
In a separate tweet, Johnston Busingye, Rwanda’s minister of justice and attorney general, praised international efforts to detain Rusesabagina.
"Those suspected of killing and wreaking terror on Rwandans, those suspected of masterminding, sponsoring or financing terror against Rwandans, will be brought to justice. Thanks to international cooperation, global efforts to apprehend them continue to be pooled," the justice minister said.
Rusesabagina, who has been a staunch critic of the current Rwandan government, is said to have offered shelter to 1,200 Rwandans at Kigali’s Mille Collines hotel in 1994 amid the genocide that left an estimated 800,000 people dead.
The event was adapted into a 2004 film that went on to receive nominations for three Academy Awards.
US President George W Bush awarded Rusesabagina the Presidential Medal for Freedom in 2005.