From Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV yesterday in U.S. v. Nshimiye (D. Mass.):
This is a criminal case arising out of a six-count indictment charging defendant Eric Tabaro Nshimiye with perjury, obstruction of justice, and knowingly concealing material facts in his application for refugee status in the United States.
Nshimiye has moved to dismiss the indictment, asserting that the Rwandan government and its restrictions on speech will prevent the witnesses from speaking freely about the genocide, rendering their testimony unreliable, and that admitting such testimony would violate his due-process rights…. He [also] contends that the government cannot establish that the statements alleged in Counts One and Three were knowingly false or material.
For the following reasons, the motion will be denied….
Eric Tabaro Nshimiye was born and raised in the Republic of Rwanda. He is a Hutu, which is the majority ethnic group in Rwanda. In April 1994, the Rwandan genocide targeting the country's Tutsi ethnic population began. At the time, Nshimiye was enrolled as a medical student at the University of Rwanda in Butare. The government alleges that Nshimiye was an active member of the Movement Revolutionaire National pour le Development ("MRND"), a group that committed genocidal acts in Rwanda in 1994. At some point in 1994 or 1995, Nshimiye fled Rwanda to Kenya.
In May 1995, he applied to become a refugee to the United States and was admitted in December 1995. He became a lawful permanent resident of the United States in 1998 and achieved United States citizenship status in 2003. The government alleges that he knowingly made false statements about his involvement in the Rwandan genocide at each stage of the immigration process.
In April 2019, Nshimiye was called to testify as a defense witness on behalf of Jean Leonard Teganya, his former University classmate and roommate. Teganya was charged with committing perjury and making false statements during immigration proceedings about his membership in the MRND and his actions during the Rwandan genocide. Nshimiye testified under oath before a federal jury….
In Count One, Nshimiye is charged with perjury for testifying that while he and Teganya were University roommates, Teganya did not wear a scarf or hat with MRND insignias. When asked about the apparel, he replied "I don't remember this type of hat," and replied in the negative to questions about Teganya displaying a MRND flag and attending political rallies during university. In Count Two, he is charged with perjury for denying that he lived in Butare during the genocide. When questioned under oath, he stated that "[he] was not in Butare," but rather in Kigali.
In Count Three, Nshimiye is charged with perjury for denying his own involvement in the MRND, including political rallies and trainings. He also denied wearing a scarf, hat, and lapel pin marked with MRND insignias and colors during his time at university. In Count Four, he is charged with perjury for denying his involvement in the genocide while under oath.
In Count Five, Nshimiye is charged with aiding and abetting the obstruction of justice under 18 U.S.C. §§ 1503 and 1502. The government contends that he knowingly concealed material evidence and testified falsely in Teganya….
