After spending 32 years abroad, Jean Léonard Teganya returned to Rwanda following his deportation from the United States, where he was convicted of lying about his past. He now faces allegations of genocide and crimes against humanity linked to the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in the former Butare Prefecture.
Rwanda’s National Public Prosecution Authority (NPPA) confirmed that Teganya arrived at Kigali International Airport on Monday evening, November 9, 2026, accompanied by American security officers. He was handed over to Rwandan prosecutors, who have been pursuing a case against him since 2014.
In a statement, the prosecution authority thanked US judicial institutions for their cooperation in returning genocide suspects to Rwanda.
It also recognised their contribution to international efforts to fight impunity and ensure accountability for crimes committed during the Genocide against the Tutsi.
Teganya’s return marked a significant development in a case that has stretched across more than three decades, involving asylum applications in Canada, a criminal trial in the United States and continuing efforts by Rwandan authorities to bring him before justice.
Although he was sentenced to prison in the United States, his conviction there concerned immigration fraud and perjury, not genocide. The allegations related to the Genocide against the Tutsi remain a separate matter for Rwanda’s judicial system.
Teganya was born in 1971 in Gatumba Sector, in present-day Ngororero District, Western Province.
During the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, he was studying medicine at the former National University of Rwanda in Butare, now part of the University of Rwanda’s Huye campus.
He was also undergoing practical training at the University Hospital of Butare, where some Tutsi civilians had sought refuge as the killings spread.
According to evidence presented by American prosecutors during his trial, Teganya was affiliated with the MRND political party and the Interahamwe militia, which participated in the genocide.
Prosecutors alleged that he accompanied and led groups of soldiers and Interahamwe members who searched the hospital for Tutsi patients, medical workers and other people hiding there.
Evidence presented during the American proceedings indicated that some of those discovered were taken away and killed, including behind the hospital’s maternity ward.
The prosecution also linked Teganya to the killing of three Tutsi people at the hospital and four Tutsi students found in university accommodation.
Further allegations concerned five incidents of rape involving two Tutsi women who had sought shelter at the hospital.
These accusations were presented as part of the evidence in his American immigration-related trial. They were not separate genocide or crimes against humanity charges on which the US jury returned a verdict.
Rwanda’s prosecution authority issued an indictment against Teganya in 2014 over his alleged involvement in genocide and crimes against humanity committed in Butare.
His return now gives Rwandan authorities an opportunity to pursue those allegations through the country’s judicial process.
Teganya left Rwanda in July 1994, as the genocide came to an end.
According to American court records, he travelled through what was then Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of Congo, before moving through Kenya and India.
He eventually reached Canada in 1999, where he applied for asylum.
However, Canadian authorities rejected his application after concluding that he was excluded from refugee protection because of evidence concerning his alleged involvement in atrocities committed at the Butare hospital.
Teganya spent approximately 15 years pursuing his asylum case through Canada’s immigration and legal systems.
After facing removal from Canada, he crossed into the United States.
On August 3, 2014, American authorities apprehended him after he entered the country on foot near Houlton, Maine, along the border with Canada.
He subsequently applied for asylum in the United States.
However, American investigators discovered that information he had provided about his political affiliations and activities during the genocide was false or incomplete.
US prosecutors said Teganya had concealed his involvement with the MRND and his activities during the Genocide against the Tutsi while seeking immigration protection.
The case eventually resulted in federal criminal charges against him.
In September 2017, Teganya was formally charged in Massachusetts with two counts of immigration fraud and three counts of perjury.
The charges concerned false statements he had made while applying for asylum and during immigration proceedings.
His trial took place in Boston, where prosecutors presented evidence about his activities in Rwanda before and during the genocide.
The proceedings lasted 18 days, during which witnesses testified about events at the hospital and university in Butare.
Teganya also testified in his own defence.
On April 5, 2019, a federal jury found him guilty of all five charges.
On July 1, 2019, US District Judge F. Denis Saylor IV sentenced him to 97 months in prison, equivalent to eight years and one month.
The judge also found that Teganya had obstructed justice by giving false testimony during his trial.
Teganya appealed his conviction and sentence, arguing against aspects of the proceedings and the court’s findings.
However, on May 17, 2021, the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit upheld the convictions and sentence.
The ruling meant that the American judgment against him remained in place.
An important distinction in this case is that Teganya was not convicted of genocide by the American court.
His conviction concerned immigration fraud and perjury, although evidence about his alleged involvement in genocide played a central role in establishing that he had concealed information from immigration authorities.
For Rwanda, the outstanding legal questions concern the crimes he is accused of committing during the Genocide against the Tutsi.
Teganya’s return came less than two weeks after a separate American court decision connected to his 2019 trial.
On October 27, 2026, a federal jury in Boston convicted Eric Tabaro Nshimiye, also known as Eric Tabaro Nshimiyimana, of four counts of perjury and one count of obstruction of justice.
Nshimiye had testified in Teganya’s defence during the 2019 proceedings.
The two men had previously studied at the National University of Rwanda in Butare.
According to the US Department of Justice, Nshimiye falsely told the court that neither he nor Teganya had participated in the genocide or belonged to the MRND.
Prosecutors maintained that he concealed information about his own activities during the genocide and gave misleading testimony to support Teganya’s defence.
Nshimiye was arrested in Ohio in March 2024 before facing trial in Boston.
The jury found him guilty in October 2026, and his sentencing was scheduled for January 26, 2027.
The conviction brought another development to the legal history surrounding Teganya’s case, particularly the evidence presented about the activities of individuals who had studied and worked in Butare during the genocide.
However, Nshimiye’s conviction does not establish Teganya’s guilt on the genocide allegations now being pursued in Rwanda.
Those allegations remain subject to the Rwandan judicial process.
Rwanda’s efforts to bring genocide suspects before justice
Teganya’s deportation is part of Rwanda’s continuing efforts to bring people suspected of participating in the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi before its courts.
For more than three decades, Rwandan authorities have worked with foreign governments and international judicial institutions to locate suspects who left the country after the genocide.
The United States is among the countries that have cooperated with Rwanda in returning individuals wanted in connection with genocide-related allegations.
Before Teganya’s return, seven people had been deported from the United States to Rwanda between 2005 and March 2025.
They included Enos Kagaba, who was returned in 2005, followed by Jean Marie Vianney Mudahinyuka, also known as Zuzu, and Marie-Claire Mukeshimana in 2011.
Léopold Munyakazi was deported in 2016, while Beatrice Munyenyezi and Oswald Rurangwa, also known as Oswald Rukemuye, were returned in 2021.
Ahmed Napoleon Mbonyunkiza was the most recent person on that list, having been deported on March 4, 2025.
Teganya’s return represents another development in the cooperation between Rwandan and American authorities concerning genocide suspects.
In its statement, the NPPA welcomed the continued partnership with US judicial institutions, highlighting the importance of international legal assistance in addressing genocide-related cases.
The United States has also established mechanisms to investigate suspected perpetrators of genocide, war crimes and other serious human rights violations who may have entered the country.
One such mechanism is the Human Rights Violators and War Crimes Center, established in 2003 to help American authorities identify, investigate and pursue cases involving suspected human rights violators.
In Teganya’s case, the legal processes in Canada, the United States and Rwanda have addressed different questions.
Canadian authorities examined his eligibility for asylum.
The United States prosecuted him for providing false information in immigration proceedings.
Rwanda’s case concerns allegations that he participated in genocide and crimes against humanity in Butare.
Following Teganya’s arrival in Kigali, attention has turned to the judicial process he is expected to face in Rwanda.
The National Public Prosecution Authority has confirmed that he was received following his deportation, but it has not yet announced when he will appear before a court.
The exact timetable for the proceedings and the charges to be formally presented in court have also not been publicly detailed in the announcement.
Teganya will have the right to defend himself as the allegations against him are examined by the appropriate judicial authorities.
His return does not amount to a conviction for genocide in Rwanda. It allows the case pursued by Rwandan prosecutors since 2014 to move forward with him present in the country.
For survivors and families affected by the atrocities committed in Butare, his return is another development in the continuing pursuit of accountability for crimes committed during the Genocide against the Tutsi.
After spending more than three decades outside Rwanda, Teganya now faces a different legal challenge from the one that led to his imprisonment in the United States.
The question before Rwanda’s justice system will no longer be whether he lied to immigration authorities, but whether the evidence establishes his responsibility for the genocide and crimes against humanity of which he is accused.
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