Rwandan who sought asylum after Genocide faces U.S. fraud charge

A Rwandan man who sought asylum in the United States claiming to have fled the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi was charged by U.S. prosecutors on Friday with lying about having been part of Interahamwe militia that carried out the Genocide. Jean-Leonard Teganya, 46, is believed to have left Rwanda in the aftermath of the Genocide in which over a million people died, according to prosecutors in Boston said. Teganya traveled through Congo and India before arriving in Canada in 1999. He twice sought asylum there but was denied after Canadian officials concluded he took part in atrocities against the Tutsi at the hospital where he worked as a trainee in the former Butare town, now in Huye District, prosecutors said, citing witnesses. After his second attempt at securing asylum in Canada failed, Teganya in 2014 crossed into the United States, entering through Houlton, Maine, where he encountered U.S. Customs and Border Control officers and requested asylum. He said his father had been a senior local leader of the MRND party that masterminded the Genocide, but did not reveal that he too was a member. Teganya is due to appear in Boston federal court this week on charges of immigration fraud and perjury, prosecutors said. If convicted, he could face up to 10 years in prison. Rwanda says it has issued close to 700 arrest warrants globally for Genocide suspects still at large, 23 years after the Genocide. Agencies

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Rwandan who sought asylum after Genocide faces U.S. fraud charge