An Ohio man has been nabbed for allegedly hiding his involvement in the horrific 1994 Rwandan genocide for nearly 30 years, as revealed in a statement by federal prosecutors on March 21. Eric Tabaro Nshimiye, 52, of Uniontown, faces charges of falsifying records, obstruction of justice, and perjury – accused of brutal killings including striking victims with a nail-studded club and hacking them to death with a machete during the genocide, the Justice Department reports.
Detained following his arrest in Ohio, Nshimiye is set to appear in a Boston federal court at an undetermined date. According to the same Justice Department statement, the suspect allegedly crafted a complex web of lies to gain refugee status and citizenship in the U.S., thereby escaping the shadow of his past involving in one of history's darkest chapters. Acting United States Attorney Joshua S. Levy remarked, "Our refuge and asylum laws exist to protect true victims of persecution -- not the perpetrators. The United States will not be a safe haven for suspected human rights violators and war criminals."
Lifting the veil on a calculated facade, Nshimiye is accused of deceit that began shortly after the genocide, painting himself as a refugee to U.S. immigration officials – a stark contrast to allegations which detail murderous actions on the University of Rwanda campus in Butare. Charged also with perjury, Nshimiye had testified in 2019 denying both his and a convicted genocidaire, Jean Leonard Teganya's, involvement in the MRND political party and Interahamwe militia that fueled the genocide, prosecutors allege. Teganya was convicted of immigration fraud and perjury in April 2019.
Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in New England, Michael J. Krol, condemned the suspect's alleged efforts to bury his genocidal acts. "The charging documents make specific allegations about the murder and rape of ethnic Tutsis committed during his time as a medical student in Rwanda," said Krol in a Justice Department press release. With the tireless work of Homeland Security Investigations and the Human Rights Violators and War Crimes Center, agents have spent years piecing together the grisly puzzle of Nshimiye's past in a relentless pursuit of justice.
The charges lodged against Nshimiye carry weighty sentences, with the potential for up to five years in prison for falsification of information, and up to ten years for the obstruction charge. In keeping with court procedure, Nshimiye remains innocent until proven guilty. A collaborative effort between government agencies led to the unveiling of this long-buried narrative, with the case now in the hands of Assistant U.S. Attorneys John T. McNeil and Amanda Beck of the National Security Unit, as reported by the Justice Department. The investigation continues, drawing upon global cooperation to sift through historical horrors in the quest to uphold human rights and the rule of law.
