WASHINGTON (JTA) — A Kansas man will be tried in the United States for covering up his involvement in the Rwandan genocide when he immigrated to the United States.
"This is the first case in history in which the US government will seek to prove genocide in a federal district court," said Eli Rosenbaum, the head of the Justice Department’s Office of Special Investigations, which is prosecuting the case along with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement division.
Lazare Kabaya Kobagaya, 82, was arrested Thursday on charges of naturalization fraud and misuse of an alien registration card. An indictment returned by a Wichita jury alleges that Kobagaya participated in genocidal activities in 1994 in Rwanda, including mobilizing attackers to commit arson and murder, and did not disclose his participation in those activties during the immigration and naturalization process.
Kobagaya faces maximum sentences of 10 years in prison and fines of up to $250,000 on each of the two charges.
