An Ohio man has been arrested for allegedly concealing his participation in the Rwandan genocide almost three decades ago.
Eric Tabaro Nshimiye, also known as Eric Tabaro Nshimiyimana, a 52-year-old living in Uniontown, Ohio, was arrested Thursday by special agents from Homeland Security Investigations, according to a news release from the agency.
He faces charges of falsifying, concealing and covering up a material fact by trick, scheme or device, obstruction of justice and perjury, according to HSI.
Nshimiye allegedly participated in the killing of Tutsi men, women and children in Rwanda by hitting them on the head with a nail-studded club and then hacking them to death with a machete, the HSI release says. Specific examples of his crimes include killing a 14-year-old boy and “aiding and abetting” in the rape of Tutsi women, according to the release.
CNN has reached out to the public defender representing Nshimiye for comment.
The Rwandan genocide broke out in 1994 and resulted in the deaths of roughly 800,000 people, most of them members of the Tutsi ethnic minority, who had been given higher social standing by the Belgian colonial regime. Over a 100-day spree, soldiers, police, militia and armed civilians from the Hutu ethnic majority killed Tutsis en masse, encouraged by local officials and government-sponsored radio demanding civilians attack, rape, rob and kill their Tutsi neighbors.
“Nshimiye is accused of lying to conceal his participation in one of the greatest human tragedies of all time,” Michael J. Krol, a HSI agent, said in the news release.
Nshimiye’s charges also stem from statements he made during the 2019 Boston trial of his former classmate and now-convicted Rwandan genocide perpetrator Jean Leonard Teganya. Authorities say Nshimiye lied during his testimony to hide his own participation in the genocide.
In 1994, Nshimiye and Teganya were both medical students and prominent student members of the National Revolutionary Movement for Development, the ruling Hutu-majority political party that encouraged the genocide, as well as the party’s violent youth wing, according to the news release.
In 2017, Teganya – Nshimiye’s friend and former classmate – was charged with fraudulently seeking immigration benefits in the United States by also concealing his involvement in the genocide. Nshimiye testified that neither he nor Teganya participated in the genocide. Teganya was convicted of two counts of immigration fraud and three counts of perjury in April 2019 and sentenced to eight years in prison.
Nshimiye fled Rwanda in the summer of 1994 and then made his way to Kenya, where he allegedly lied to US immigration officials to gain admission to the country, according to the HSI release.
“Nshimiye emigrated to Ohio and, in subsequent years, allegedly continued to provide false information about his involvement in the Rwandan genocide to obtain lawful permanent residence and ultimately U.S. citizenship,” says the release.
He will appear in federal court in Boston at a later date, according to HSI. If convicted, he may face up to twenty years in prison and hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines.
CNN’s Dave Alsup contributed to this report.
