Rwandan man in the US sent back home to face genocide charges

KIGALI, Rwanda (AP) — A Rwandan man suspected of participating in the country’s 1994 genocide has been deported from the United States and will stand trial for his alleged crimes, according to local authorities.

Jean ​Léonard Teganya, who arrived in the East African nation on Monday, faces charges related to genocide, said Justin Nkusi, a spokesperson for the prosecution.

Teganya is currently being interrogated by police before prosecutors receive his file, Nkusi said.

Teganya, 55, was indicted in 2014 over his alleged involvement in genocidal crimes in several areas in the district of Huye, in Rwanda’s south. Rwandan authorities say he allegedly committed some of his crimes at a university campus and a medical school in Huye.

The 2014 indictment triggered an investigation into Teganya’s presence in the U.S., with Rwanda seeking his deportation. At the time, Teganya denied playing a part in the genocide, in which an estimated 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed by extremist Hutus.

Teganya fled Rwanda in July 1994 and later sought asylum in Canada. According to the U.S. Justice Department, he evaded a Canadian deportation order and crossed into the U.S. in 2014. In 2019 a federal jury in Boston found that Teganya had committed immigration fraud and perjury after seeking asylum in the U.S.

One survivor of the genocide told The Associated Press in Kigali, the Rwandan capital, that she welcomed the decision to send Teganya home to face justice.

“Genocide crime and crimes against humanity are never time-barred and perpetrators will be hunted, arrested, deported and prosecuted,” said Yolande Mukakasana.

“As survivors, we remain hopeful that justice will be done no matter how much time has passed.”