Former Rwandan diplomat Eugene-Richard Gasana has been found guilty of sexual assault by the Supreme Court of the State of New York. Gasana, a former Rwandan ambassador who served as Permanent Representative to the United Nations until 2016, was prosecuted for raping a woman named Benita Uruhisho. He assaulted the victim when she worked as an intern at the Rwandan mission which he headed. The Manhattan jury gave a unanimous verdict on Thursday, May 7, holding Gasana accountable for the sexual assault and ordered him to pay $5 million in damages to Uruhisho. The case has been going on since 2019. Reacting to the verdict, Liston Abramson, a Manhattan-based law firm that represented Uruhisho, said the case required extraordinary courage on the part of our client. Ms. Uruhisho faced not only the trauma of the underlying abuse but also, as the evidence at trial demonstrated, efforts by the defense to publicly attack her credibility and reputation and intimidate potential witnesses in the case, the law firm said in a post on LinkedIn on Friday. We are deeply honored to have represented Ms. Uruhisho. No verdict can erase the harm she has suffered. But this verdict sends a clear message: even powerful individuals can be held accountable. Gasana has an option to appeal the ruling.
