New York beekeeper charged with concealing involvement in 1994 Rwandan genocide

Yahoo

25-04-2025

A New York beekeeper was arrested on charges of concealing his past role as an alleged leader in the 1994 Rwandan genocide on his applications for a green card and U.S. citizenship, federal prosecutors said.
Faustin Nsabumukunzi, 65, was charged with visa fraud and attempted naturalization fraud for allegedly lying to U.S. authorities about his role as a local leader and "perpetrator of violence" in the Rwandan genocide, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Eastern District of New York. The indictment of the Bridgehampton man was returned on April 22 and unsealed on April 24 in Central Islip on Long Island.
Nsabumukunzi applied for refugee resettlement to the United States in 2003 and later settled in Long Island, where he continued his career as a beekeeper and gardener. But prosecutors alleged that Nsabumukunzi was, in fact, a "Sector Councilor" in Rwanda when the genocide began in 1994.
The Rwandan genocide was one of the "most horrific atrocities in modern history" and emerged from conflict between the two main ethnic groups in the country, the Hutu and the Tutsi, according to the Strategic Studies Institute. After then-President Juvénal Habyarimana's plane was shot down in April 1994, violence broke out across the country, and the Hutu majority targeted the minority population, killing an estimated 800,000 Tutsis over 100 days.
At Nsabumukunzi's initial court appearance on April 24, he pleaded not guilty and was released on a $250,000 bond. His bail package requires home detention and GPS monitoring but he'll be allowed to continue working as a gardener for a private equity entrepreneur on Long Island who posted his bond, ABC News and The New York Times reported.
Nsabumukunzi faces a maximum of 30 years in prison if he is convicted on all charges, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.
'We deserve safety': They fled genocide, hoping to find safety in America. They found apathy.
Nsabumukunzi was the Sector Councilor of Kibirizi, a sector within the commune of Nyaruhengeri in the Butare Prefecture in southern Rwanda, around April 1994, the indictment alleges. During that time, prosecutors said Nsabumukunzi participated in the "violence and the genocidal killings" of Tutsis.
As a local leader, Nsabumukunzi directed groups of armed Hutus to kill Tutsis and set up roadblocks to detect and detain Tutsis when they left their home, according to the indictment.
"For example, Nsabumukunzi ordered a group of armed Hutus to locations where Tutsis were sheltering and the Hutus killed them," prosecutors said. "Nsabumukunzi also facilitated the rape of Tutsi women by verbally encouraging Hutu men to do so."
Nsabumukunzi was subsequently convicted of genocide in absentia by a Rwandan court, according to court records.
In 2003, Nsabumukunzi applied for refugee settlement in the United States and received a green card in 2007 before applying for citizenship in 2009 and 2015, prosecutors said. In his applications during that period, prosecutors said Nsabumukunzi repeatedly falsely claimed that he was not involved in the genocide.
"As alleged, Nsabumukunzi repeatedly lied to conceal his involvement in the horrific Rwandan genocide while seeking to become a lawful permanent resident and citizen of the United States," U.S. Attorney John Durham said in a statement.
"For over two decades, he got away with those lies and lived in the United States with an undeserved clean slate, a luxury that his victims will never have, but thanks to the tenacious efforts of our investigators and prosecutors, the defendant finally will be held accountable for his brutal actions," Durham added.
Prosecutors said Nsabumukunzi was able to live and work in the United States due to his "ongoing efforts to conceal his actions during the genocide."
Nsabumukunzi was profiled in a 2006 article by the Times, which described him as a Rwandan refugee who moved between refugee camps before gaining political asylum in the U.S. with his family. Nsabumukunzi and his family were initially relocated to Houston and later moved to Long Island to work as a beekeeper, the newspaper reported at the time.
He was hired by the Hamptons Honey Company, which was looking to scale up its operations due to growing demand, according to the newspaper. Nsabumukunzi had been an experienced beekeeper in his native country, where he oversaw a team of 150 beekeepers and 1,500 hives, the Times reported.
Nsabumukunzi told the news organization that after losing over 200 relatives to the violence in Rwanda, he and his family hoped to rebuild a new life in the United States.
Israel-Hamas war: UN experts accuse Israel of genocidal acts and sexual violence in Gaza
Over the last two decades, authorities across the world have arrested and charged several people for their involvement in the Rwandan genocide.
In March 2024, an Ohio man was charged for lying about his alleged involvement in murders and rapes during the genocide. Prosecutors accused Eric Tabaro Nshimiye of living a double life and insisting that he was a victim during the genocide.
Nshimiye also gave false testimony in the 2019 Boston trial of his former classmate and now-convicted Rwandan genocide perpetrator Jean Leonard Teganya, according to prosecutors. Teganya was convicted of two counts of immigration fraud and three counts of perjury in connection with his application for asylum in the United States.
In 2014, Al Jazeera reported that a former Rwandan soldier was sentenced to 25 years in prison in France for genocide and crimes against humanity. In 2013, the Associated Press reported that a Rwandan man living in Norway was sentenced to 21 years in prison for participating in genocide.
Also in 2013, a New Hampshire woman, Beatrice Munyenyezi, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for two counts of procuring citizenship unlawfully after fleeing from Rwanda, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office in the District of Massachusetts. Prosecutors said Munyenyezi aided and abetted the persecution and murder of Tutsi people.
"This is the first such conviction in the nation based on concealing one's personal participation in Rwandan genocide," the U.S. Attorney's Office said at the time.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said in April 2021 that Munyenyezi was deported to Rwanda, where she was then sentenced to life in prison.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: New York beekeeper charged with concealing his role in Rwanda genocide