Key facts
- Eric Nshimiye was convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice.
- Nshimiye lied during the 2019 trial of his former classmate, Jean Leonard Teganya.
- Nshimiye is scheduled to be sentenced on January 26.
- Prosecutors alleged Nshimiye participated in the 1994 Rwandan genocide.
A Rwandan-born Ohio man has been convicted of US charges that he lied during a 2019 criminal trial as part of a decades-long scheme to conceal his involvement in Rwanda's 1994 genocide. A federal jury in Boston found Eric Nshimiye, 54, guilty of perjury and obstruction of justice charges on Tuesday. He is scheduled to be sentenced on January 26. Prosecutors alleged that Nshimiye participated in the massacre by the hard-line Hutu regime of an estimated 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus during three months of slaughter in his native Rwanda. Nshimiye had lived in the US since 1995 and became a citizen in 2003. He was working as an engineer for Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. Prosecutors said Nshimiye attacked Tutsis and handed them over to be raped or killed. However, when called as a defense witness in his former classmate Jean Leonard Teganya's 2019 trial, Nshimiye denied participating in the genocide or being a member of the ruling Hutu-dominated party. Teganya was convicted of perjury and visa fraud charges and sentenced to more than eight years in prison.