Eric Nshimiye, a Rwandan-born American citizen, went on trial in Boston over accusations that he participated in the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda and later provided false information to US authorities about his past.
According to Al Jazeera, proceedings began at a federal court on Tuesday, October 13, where prosecutors accused the 55-year-old of participating in attacks against Tutsi civilians in Butare, where he was studying medicine when the genocide began.
During the opening proceedings, Assistant US Attorney Christopher Looney accused Nshimiye of personally participating in killings and helping others commit acts of sexual violence against Tutsis.
“He himself attacked Tutsis, and handed Tutsis over to be killed and raped,” Looney told the court.
Nshimiye was arrested at his home in Ohio in March 2024 after American investigators accused him of concealing information about his activities during the genocide.
The case also involved testimony he gave during a separate trial in Boston in 2019, when he appeared as a defence witness for his former university classmate, Jean Leonard Teganya.
Teganya was subsequently convicted of immigration fraud and perjury in connection with false statements about his involvement in the genocide.
During that trial, Nshimiye denied participating in the genocide or belonging to the National Revolutionary Movement for Development (MRND) and the Interahamwe militia, which played a major role in the killings of Tutsis.
American prosecutors maintained that those statements were false and accused him of deliberately concealing his activities during the genocide.
The charges brought against Nshimiye included perjury, obstruction of justice and concealing material information from federal authorities. The proceedings concerned those accusations rather than a direct charge of genocide.
Prosecutors planned to present more than a dozen witnesses, most of whom had travelled from Rwanda to testify.
According to Al Jazeera, some witnesses were expected to describe Nshimiye’s participation in political activities before the genocide, while others were expected to testify about attacks against Tutsi civilians in Butare.
However, Nshimiye denied the accusations, and his defence lawyers challenged the reliability of the evidence presented against him.
They argued that the prosecution’s case relied heavily on eyewitness accounts gathered decades after the genocide.
The defence claimed that some witnesses had identified Nshimiye only after repeatedly being shown his photograph, while others had previously provided inconsistent testimony during genocide-related proceedings.
Defence lawyer Kurt Kerns questioned why the accusations emerged years after the genocide, arguing that his client had not previously been implicated in proceedings before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda or Rwanda’s Gacaca courts.
Nshimiye maintained that he had travelled to Kigali before the genocide began and was unable to return to Butare because of the violence.
He said he later fled Rwanda as a refugee before settling in the United States, where he obtained American citizenship in 2009.
His family also challenged the accusations, arguing that the evidence presented against him did not establish his participation in the genocide.
Nshimiye had remained in federal custody since his arrest in 2024.
If convicted, he could face imprisonment and separate legal proceedings that could affect his American citizenship.
The trial was expected to continue with witness testimony as prosecutors sought to establish their case and the defence challenged the allegations.
Elie GATETE
RADIOTV10