A Rwandan-born man has been arrested in Ohio for his alleged involvement in the country’s 1994 genocide.
Federal prosecutors have accused Eric Nshimiye, 52, of concealing his involvement in the mass murders, which included hacking people to death.
Nshimiye is said to have participated in the killings by hitting victims on the head with a nail-studded club and then hacking them with a machete.
Prosecutors say he hid for decades his participation in the Hutu regime’s massacre of an estimated 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus.
After settling in Ohio, Nshimiye tried to derail any investigation into his scheme by lying at the immigration fraud trial of a former classmate whom prosecutors have accused of also participating in the atrocities.
Federal prosecutors have charged Eric Nshimiye, seen here, with concealing his involvement in the mass murders
Prosecutors say he hid for decades his participation in the Hutu regime’s massacre of an estimated 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus.
In this April 8, 2019 file photo, a woman carrying her child looks at the wall with the names of the victims as Rwanda marks the 25th anniversary of the 1994 genocide
Nshimiye was arrested in Ohio, where he has lived since 1995, and held after an appearance in federal court in Youngstown.
Acting U.S. Attorney Joshua Levy of Massachusetts said in a statement: “Our refuge and asylum laws exist to protect true victims of persecution, not the perpetrators.”
According to a LinkedIn post, Nshimiye previously spoke to students at the Jackson Academy for Global Studies about his life in Rwanda and how he escaped during the war.
Nshimiye also works as an engineer for Goodyear at their headquarters in Akron, Ohio.
His arrest came four years after the 2019 conviction in Boston of Nshimiye’s former classmate Jean Leonard Teganya.
Prosecutors said Teganya committed immigration fraud by concealing his involvement in the genocide when he sought asylum.
Authorities said that at the time of the killings, both men were medical students in the town of Butare and active in the political party that helped commit the genocide, MRND.
According to charging documents, Nshimiye helped identify Tutsis among patients and staff at a hospital that became a site of atrocities and was directly involved in murders and inciting rapes.
His victims included a 14-year-old boy and a man who sewed medical coats at University Hospital, authorities said.
Witnesses in Rwanda identified the sites of the killings and drew pictures of Nshimiye’s weapons, authorities said.
According to a LinkedIn post, Nshimiye, seen here, spoke to students at the Jackson Academy for Global Studies about his life in Rwanda and how he escaped during the war
A former Interhamwe member is seen here pointing to the spot where Nshimiye allegedly killed a 14-year-old boy
Nshimiye is also said to have participated in the rapes of several Tutsi women during the genocide.
A statement says that prior to the genocide, Nshimiye participated in weapons training in a forest next to the university hospital.
After the genocide broke out, Nshimiye is said to have been part of Interhamwe, who were the main perpetrators of the massacre.
Along with other members of the group, witnesses told authorities that he rounded up 25-30 Tutsis who had been hiding in a forest near the university hospital.
The group is then said to have killed all the captives before burning their bodies.
Another witness told authorities that Nshimiye instructed others to rape and kill six young women who were university students.
A female survivor told prosecutors that Nshimiye had raped her repeatedly and managed to escape when he took her and her two children to a mass grave.
A former Interhamwe member is seen here pointing to a place where Nshimiye is alleged to have trained with weapons
Two witnesses provided prosecutors with drawings of the weapons Nshimiye is alleged to have used
The woman said she made her escape, but her children did not survive – and were hacked to death.
According to the documents, Nshimiye fled Rwanda in the summer of 1994 after a Tutsi rebel group drove genocidals into the Democratic Republic of Congo.
In 1995, Nshimiye made his way to Kenya, where he allegedly lied to US immigration officials to gain entry to the United States.
Nshimiye emigrated to Ohio and in subsequent years allegedly continued to provide false information about his involvement in the genocide in order to obtain legal permanent residency and eventually US citizenship.
He was called as a defense witness at Teganya’s trial and gave false testimony to exonerate him, prosecutors said. Teganya was sentenced to eight years in prison.
Nshimiye was held Thursday after an initial appearance in federal court in Ohio, and authorities said he will appear at a later date in federal court in Boston, where the charges were filed.
If convicted, Nshimiye faces up to five years in prison for perjury, up to 10 years for obstruction of justice and up to five years for the scheme to conceal the charge.
The suspect’s home in Uniontown, Ohio