American jurors on Monday started probing the case involving Jean-Leonard Teganya, a Rwandan embroiled in an immigration fraud trial, after he concealed his role in the Genocide back in Rwanda as he processed asylum to stay in the US.

In Rwanda, Teganya is an indicted and wanted Genocide suspect over his role in the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi is in Ngoma District, the former Butare Prefecture in the current Southern Province.

Jean Léonard Teganya was arrested in Maine by U.S. border agents in August 2014. Net photo.

Teganya who reports say illegally entered the United States in 2014, was a medical student during the Genocide that took place 25 years ago.

Despite being under oath, US media reports, Teganya covered up for his role in the Genocide during the process to acquire asylum that granted him stay in the US.

Prosecutors in the country say they are ready to line up over a dozen witnesses to attest to the man’s role in the Genocide.

There is an outstanding arrest warrant over his role in the Genocide, particularly in the former Butare prefecture, now in Southern Province.

According to a US-based newspaper, opening statements in the federal trial of Teganya were heard on Monday at Moakley Federal Courthouse.

Among the witnesses to be lined up to pin the man include a woman who was one of four Tutsi students at the university hospital in Butare, that militia herded to a mass grave outside the hospital’s maternity ward to be killed.

Teganya was first pinned on immigration fraud in 2017.

Expeditious trial

When contacted, Prosecutor General Jean-Bosco Mutangana told The New Times that "Teganya is an indicted and wanted Genocide suspect” and that the rest is about a trial in the US, for an offence committed in the U.S., and the U.S courts are taking care of it.

"An expeditious trial in this U.S domestic case would further permit NPPA to continue addressing substantive investigations with our US counterparts with view of holding him to account on further charges related to Genocide committed against the Tutsi in 1994,” Mutangana said.

Mutangana agreed that definitely, victims, survivors and Rwandans in general would like to see justice done in this matter.

He said: "A number of many other genocide suspects still move freely, and it’s our commitment to ensure that we leave no stone unturned to ensure they find their day in court.”

"We continue to do this by engaging our partners in different countries and Prosecutors in Rwanda have continued to build specialised units and capacities to be able to deal with dynamics related to investigations of this nature.”

Several Rwandans suspected of committing the Genocide have in the past been deported from the US after being convicted for immigration fraud.

editor@newtimesrwanda.com