This archive report was first published on 2 July 2019.
On July 1, 2019, a US federal judge in Boston sentenced Jean Leonard Teganya, 47, to 97 months in prison for immigration fraud and perjury.
Teganya, a Rwandan national, was convicted in April of lying about his involvement in the 1994 Rwandan genocide to gain asylum in the United States.
According to US Attorney Andrew Lelling, Teganya 'committed horrendous crimes during the Rwandan genocide and then sought to deceive US immigration authorities about his past.'
During the genocide, Teganya led teams of soldiers and pro-government youth to locate and kill Tutsi patients and refugees at a hospital in Rwanda.
He participated in the murders of seven Tutsis and the rape of two Tutsi women, and was a member of the Hutu-dominated MRND party that incited the genocide.
After fleeing Rwanda in 1994, Teganya traveled to India, Canada, and eventually the United States, where he applied for asylum in 1999 without disclosing his role in the genocide.
Canadian authorities twice denied Teganya asylum due to his complicity in atrocities, but he slipped into the US in 2014 and applied for asylum again.
US officials said Teganya will be deported once he completes his prison sentence.
