US Jury Convicts Rwandan-Born Ohio Man of Perjury Over Testimony in Genocide Trial
BOSTON — A United States federal jury has convicted Eric Nshimiye, a Rwandan-born man living in Ohio, of perjury and obstruction of justice over false testimony he gave during the 2019 trial of a former university classmate accused of involvement in the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.
The verdict was delivered in Boston on Tuesday, October 27. Prosecutors based their case on allegations that Nshimiye lied under oath about his own involvement in the Genocide during his 2019 testimony.
Nshimiye was studying medicine in Butare, now Huye, in 1994 alongside Jean-Léonard Teganya, the man he sought to defend in the 2019 trial. Prosecutors alleged that both men belonged to the National Revolutionary Movement for Development (MRND), the ruling party at the time.
Teganya was convicted of perjury and visa fraud and sentenced to more than eight years in prison in 2019.
During opening statements in Nshimiye’s trial on October 13, his lawyer, Kurt Kerns, dismissed the accusations against his client as fabricated. He argued that Nshimiye was not in Butare when the violence began and that prosecutors pursued the case because he had testified in support of his former classmate.
After the conviction, Kerns said the defense was disappointed with the verdict and would continue seeking legal remedies.
“We are obviously very disappointed with the verdict, but we will continue to pursue all avenues of relief on Eric’s behalf,” Kerns said in a statement.
Nshimiye moved to the United States in 1995 after being admitted as a refugee and became a U.S. citizen in 2003. At the time of his arrest in 2024, he was working as an engineer in Ohio.
