A federal jury convicted Eric Tabaro Nshimiye, 54, of Ohio on Oct. 27 of four counts of perjury and one count of obstruction of justice in a Rwandan genocide perjury case, the Justice Department said.
Seven years passed between the testimony at the center of the case and the verdict, a calculation from the 2019 trial date and the 2026 conviction. The perjury charges grew out of a different defendant’s trial, which makes the case a second prosecution built on the first.
What Prosecutors Proved about 1994
Nshimiye was a medical student at the University of Rwanda in Butare in the early 1990s and a member of the ruling Hutu-dominated MRND party. The evidence showed he took part in attacks on Tutsis, including striking them with a club, the Justice Department said. A witness who was 17 at the time testified that he saw Nshimiye club a tailor to death at the university hospital. Other witnesses said he worked roadblocks where Tutsis were separated out to be killed.
How He Entered the United States
Nshimiye fled Rwanda in the summer of 1994 and reached Kenya. In 1995 he entered the United States as a refugee without disclosing his role in the genocide, prosecutors said. He later gave false information to obtain permanent residence and citizenship and has lived and worked in Ohio since 1995. That is 31 years in the United States, a calculation from the entry year and the verdict year.
The 2019 Testimony behind the Perjury Counts
In 2019, Nshimiye testified at the Boston trial of Jean Leonard Teganya, a fellow perpetrator according to the Justice Department. Nshimiye denied that either he or Teganya took part in the genocide or belonged to the MRND. Prosecutors had charged Teganya in 2017 with immigration fraud for concealing his MRND membership and his role in the genocide, and he was convicted in April 2019 of two counts of immigration fraud and three counts of perjury. Nshimiye’s testimony in that trial is the basis for his own convictions.
A. Tysen Duva, the assistant attorney general for the Criminal Division, said Nshimiye concealed his involvement for nearly three decades and lied to immigration officials and to a federal jury. Leah B. Foley, the U.S. attorney for Massachusetts, said, “The United States protects victims not violent criminals.” Jeffrey Grimming, acting special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations New England, said Nshimiye built his life in the United States on lies.
Sentencing and Maximum Penalties
Sentencing is set for Jan. 26, 2027. The maximum is five years on each perjury count and 10 years on the obstruction count, which adds up to 30 years if a judge ran every term consecutively, a calculation from the statutory maximums. The judge will set the sentence under the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
Homeland Security Investigations Boston investigated with help from the agency’s Human Rights Violators and War Crimes Center. Trial Attorney Alexandra Skinnion of the Criminal Division’s Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Looney prosecuted the case, with assistance from the Office of International Affairs.
