New York (AFP) – US prosecutors have accused a man of concealing his role in the Rwandan genocide to move to the United States and attempt to become a citizen, they said Thursday. Faustin Nsabumukunzi, 65, allegedly had a leadership role whereby he oversaw killings of Tutsi civilians in the 1994 genocide in which the United Nations said some 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were murdered.
“As alleged in the indictment, Nsabumukunzi used his leadership position to oversee the violence and killings of Tutsis in his local area and directed groups of armed Hutus to kill Tutsis,” federal prosecutors said in a statement Thursday, following the unsealing of an indictment issued Tuesday. “He is alleged to have set up roadblocks during the genocide to detain and kill Tutsis and to have participated in killings.
According to court filings, Nsabumukunzi was subsequently convicted in absentia by a Rwandan court for genocide. He is charged with immigration fraud for neglecting to mention his alleged roles in the bloodshed on his application for permanent residency and his subsequent citizenship paperwork. Nsabumukunzi, who entered a not guilty plea and was released on $250,000 bail according to a court source, faces up to 30 years imprisonment if convicted.
His bond was put up by a private equity executive on Long Island who employed Nsabumukunzi as a gardener, the source added. Nsabumukunzi was profiled in a 2006 article by The New York Times, which highlighted his plight moving between refugee camps for a decade before seeking political asylum with his family in 2004. It also highlighted his experiences as a beekeeper and how he came into contact with a honey producer in the exclusive Hamptons community on Long Island, New York. The article reports that he lost 200 relatives to the violence that devastated the African nation.
“The depraved conduct of which the defendant is accused represent the worst of humanity,” said acting special agent in charge Darren McCormack.
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