US jury convicts Rwandan American of lying about role in genocide

What the report says

A federal jury in Boston, Massachusetts, has convicted Eric Nshimiye, a 55-year-old Rwandan American and US citizen, of perjury and obstruction of justice over statements he made about his role in the 1994 Rwandan genocide. According to Al Jazeera, the case centered on whether Nshimiye lied during a 2019 trial for a former medical school roommate and later during a 2024 federal investigation. Prosecutors said he denied involvement in killings and rape in Butare, while investigators and witnesses said he had taken part in the violence.

The jury found Nshimiye guilty on four perjury counts and one obstruction count. The article says the immigration fraud charge that had also been filed was dropped before trial. After the verdict, his lawyers asked the court to credit the roughly two and a half years he has already spent in custody toward any eventual sentence and argued he should be released.

The trial included testimony from Rwanda and expert evidence about the genocide, which killed more than 800,000 people over about 100 days, according to the report. The defense said Nshimiye had never been charged in earlier post-genocide proceedings and pointed to witnesses who placed him elsewhere during 1994. The case is part of a broader set of US prosecutions involving people accused of concealing alleged roles in the genocide when seeking immigration or citizenship benefits.