The United States on Monday, November 9, deported Jean Léonard Teganya, a Rwandan man accused of participating in the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.

Teganya, 55, had been convicted of immigration fraud and perjury in 2019. He was handed over to Rwandan authorities at Kigali International Airport on Monday evening and subsequently arrested.

The National Public Prosecution Authority (NPPA) said Teganya had been indicted in 2014 over his alleged involvement in genocide and crimes against humanity committed in Butare, Huye District.

Teganya was born in 1971 in Gatumba Sector, Ngororero District, in the Western Province. At the time of the Genocide in 1994, he lived in Huye District, where he was pursuing medical studies at the Faculty of Medicine of the former National University of Rwanda. He was also an intern at the University Teaching Hospital of Butare (CHUB).

NPPA Spokesperson Faustin Nkusi said that Teganya is the eighth Genocide fugitive to be deported to Rwanda since 2007, adding that more indictments involving suspected fugitives remain pending.

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Nkusi also clarified that Teganya had not previously been convicted by Gacaca courts.

The NPPA commended US judicial authorities for their cooperation in the deportation, as well as their continued collaboration in mutual legal assistance and international efforts to combat impunity and ensure accountability for genocide crimes.

Before his deportation, Teganya was sentenced to 97 months in federal prison on July 1, 2019, by US District Judge F. Denis Saylor IV in Boston, Massachusetts.

The sentence followed his conviction by a federal jury on April 5, 2019, on two counts of immigration fraud and three counts of perjury. He was also found to have obstructed justice by lying under oath during his testimony. The sentence was to be followed by immigration proceedings leading to his removal from the United States.

Although the US case focused on immigration fraud and perjury rather than directly prosecuting him for genocide, the trial heard extensive evidence concerning his alleged involvement in the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, officials said.

Prosecutors presented evidence linking Teganya to the Interahamwe militia and alleged that he participated in killings at CHUB and a student dormitory during the Genocide. He was accused of concealing his involvement in the atrocities when applying for immigration benefits in the United States.