Suspect in 1994 Rwandan genocide deported from US

A Rwandan man jailed in the United States for lying about his involvement in the 1994 genocide has been deported to his home country, the state prosecutor said on Monday.

The Rwandan genocide began in April 1994, and over approximately 100 days some 800,000 people, mostly minority Tutsis, were murdered.

Jean Leonard Teganya, 55, was convicted in April 2019 of two counts of immigration fraud and three of perjury after lying about his alleged role in the genocide to secure asylum in the United States, according to the US Department of Justice.

He was sentenced to 97 months in prison, after which he was to face removal.

“The National Public Prosecution Authority (NPPA) today received Teganya Jean Leonard following his deportation from the United States of America,” the Rwanda state prosecutor said in a statement.

At the time of the genocide, Teganya was a medical student at the National University of Rwanda and a member of the Hutu-dominated ruling MRND party, which incited the killings.

According to court documents, he “led teams of soldiers” and pro-government youth through the hospital in search of Tutsi patients and refugees, who were killed when found.

He was also implicated in the murders of seven Tutsis and the rape of two Tutsi women.

In mid-July 1994, Teganya fled Rwanda, travelling across Africa to India before eventually reaching Canada, where he sought asylum in 1999.

In 2014, he fled Canada ahead of a deportation order and entered the United States, where he applied for asylum without disclosing his MRND membership or activities during the genocide.

Last year, another genocide fugitive, Francois Gasana, was extradited from Norway to Rwanda to face charges over his alleged involvement in the 1994 genocide.