US lawyers representing a Genocide fugitive are headed to Rwanda to conduct interviews as part of preparations to defend her next month. The two attorneys – Mark Howard and David Ruoff, reportedly plan to interview Rwandan witnesses who will travel to New Hampshire next month to testify in the trial of Beatrice Munyenyezi of Manchester, USA. In 2010, Munyenyezi was indicted for lying on applications to enter the US and to obtain citizenship. US prosecutors who visited Rwanda, in the past to investigate the case, say she ordered rapes and murders during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, but she denied having played any part in the killings when filling out immigration and citizenship applications to the US. Munyenyezi who lives in Manchester, New Hampshire, was indicted by US Prosecutors in 2010, on two counts – obtaining US citizenship illegally and participation in the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. She is the wife of Arsene Shalom Ntahobari and daughter-in-law to Pauline Nyiramasuhuko, both of whom were found guilty of Genocide charges by the Arusha-based International Criminal Tribunal for Rwandan (ICTR) and sentenced to life in prison. Nyiramasuhuko was the first woman to be convicted of Genocide and rape by the ICTR. The US last year deported two Genocide suspects – Jean Marie Vianney Mudahinyuka (alias Zuzu) and Marie-Claire Mukeshimana, in January and December 2011, respectively. james.karuhanga@newtimes.co.rw
