US Convicts Ohio Man Over Concealed Rwandan Atrocities

A federal jury in Boston has found naturalised American citizen Eric Nshimiye guilty of obstruction of justice and perjury.

Federal prosecutors demonstrated that the Ohio engineer deliberately concealed his violent role in Rwanda’s 1994 massacres to enter the United States as an admitted refugee and eventually gain citizenship.

Witnesses flown in from Rwanda stated that while enrolled as a university scholar in Butare, Nshimiye struck victims with clubs, assaulted Tutsis, and surrendered individuals to face slaughter or sexual violence.

Furthermore, during his 2019 testimony as a defense witness supporting his former university associate, Jean Leonard Teganya, Nshimiye falsely denied any genocide involvement or allegiance to the extremist ruling Hutu political movement.

Defense counsel insisted that prosecutors relied on untruthful allegations, noting that international tribunals and local gacaca proceedings had never implicated him. Nevertheless, following his conviction, prosecutor Tysen Duva condemned his long-standing deceit, stating:

“For nearly three decades, this defendant concealed his involvement in the 1994 Rwandan genocide and the heinous acts of violence he committed, including clubbing people to death.”

Following the verdict, the defendant faces severe penalties and potential citizenship revocation when sentenced.

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