Boston jury convicts Ohio man on 5 counts tied to 1994 Rwanda testimony

A federal jury in Boston on Tuesday convicted Uniontown, Ohio, resident Eric Tabaro Nshimiye, 54, of four counts of perjury and one count of obstruction of justice. The charges stem from testimony he gave during the 2019 trial of Jean Leonard Teganya, a man later convicted of immigration fraud and perjury over his own role in the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

The Justice Department said Nshimiye, also known as Eric Tabaro Nshimiyimana, told that court that neither he nor Teganya had taken part in the genocide, which killed more than 800,000 people over roughly 100 days. Court documents allege Nshimiye was a medical student at the University of Rwanda campus in Butare in the early 1990s, belonged to the ruling MRND party and its Interahamwe youth wing, and participated in killings there, including the murders of a 14-year-old boy and a man who sewed doctor's coats at the university hospital.

According to court documents, Nshimiye fled Rwanda in the summer of 1994, reached Kenya, and entered the United States in 1995 after what prosecutors describe as false statements to immigration officials. He settled in Ohio and has worked there as an engineer since. The government alleges he later supplied false information to obtain permanent residence and citizenship.

"Eric Tabaro Nshimiye lived under a web of lies and deception. He obtained refuge in this Country by lying to immigration officials about his involvement in the Rwandan genocide and the appalling acts he committed on the Tutsi community," U.S. Attorney Leah B. Foley said in a statement. "The United States protects victims not violent criminals. This verdict ensures Nshimiye can no longer hide behind his lies." Nshimiye was arrested and charged in March 2024.

The obstruction count carries up to 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine. Each perjury count carries up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine. U.S. Senior District Court Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV set sentencing for Jan. 26, 2027.

Nshimiye's nephew, Epa Bizimana, has defended him. "If anybody is going to commit any of those heinous crimes that they are falsely accusing him of, it's not somebody of Eric's character," Bizimana said. A family statement issued to 19 News on March 28 denied the allegations, noting that Nshimiye's name never appeared in records from the U.N. International Tribunal for Rwanda or in Human Rights Watch investigative reports, and that his name went unassailed in Rwanda's Gacaca courts.

The Justice Department said Nshimiye's alleged conduct included striking people on the head with a nail-studded club and hacking them with a machete, and that he participated in and aided the rape of Tutsi women. Jeffrey Grimming, acting special agent in charge at HSI New England, said victims traveled across the world to testify. "This verdict belongs to the victims who bravely shared their stories, traveling across the world to relive the most horrifying moments of their lives and bring Nshimiye to justice," Grimming said.