A federal jury has convicted an Ohio man of lying under oath and obstructing justice over testimony about the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, a case of Nshimiye perjury that brings events from more than three decades ago back into a U.S. courtroom.
The Justice Department announced October 28, 2026, that Eric Tabaro Nshimiye, 54, was found guilty the previous day of four counts of perjury and one count of obstruction. His sentencing is scheduled for January 26, 2027.
What the jury actually decided
The convictions concern Nshimiye’s testimony at Jean Leonard Teganya’s 2019 trial in Boston. They are not convictions on a charge called genocide. That distinction is essential to understanding the verdict.
Prosecutors said Nshimiye denied that he and Teganya participated in the genocide or belonged to the ruling MRND party. The department said trial witnesses contradicted those denials, describing his involvement in violence against Tutsi people and at roadblocks. Nshimiye has lived and worked in Ohio since 1995, according to the announcement.
The earlier case behind the testimony
The April 5, 2019, federal announcement in Teganya’s case records two immigration-fraud convictions and three perjury convictions. Prosecutors said that case concerned an asylum application that concealed participation in atrocities. Teganya had been a medical student in Butare and later sought refuge outside Rwanda.
Nshimiye’s testimony in that proceeding became the subject of the newer prosecution. The sequence is worth keeping clear: the 1994 violence, the 2019 trial and the 2026 verdict are separate events. The latest development is the verdict on testimony given in a U.S. courtroom, not the discovery that the genocide occurred.
Remembering the history without reducing it to a case file
The United Nations’ historical account describes the killing of more than 800,000 people, overwhelmingly Tutsi, during roughly 100 days in 1994. It also documents the international effort to prosecute those responsible. The Security Council established the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in November 1994; its work began the following year.
That tribunal and this federal prosecution are not interchangeable. International proceedings addressed responsibility for genocide and other grave violations. The current U.S. verdict addresses perjury and obstruction arising from testimony here. Precise language helps readers understand both the scale of the original atrocities and the narrower legal question presented in an individual case.
What comes next
The Justice Department lists maximum penalties of five years for each perjury count and 10 years for obstruction. Those statutory ceilings are not an announced sentence. A judge will determine the punishment after considering federal sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors.
For now, January 26 is the next announced courtroom milestone. Any later sentence or appeal should be reported as a new development, rather than assumed from the verdict.
An individual prosecution, not a judgment on refugee communities
Utica readers live in a city shaped by many refugee journeys. The Center’s history describes local resettlement work beginning in 1979 and assistance to people from more than 35 countries. That history is a reason to distinguish individual criminal accountability from broad assumptions about refugees or immigrants.
The federal announcement does not identify a Utica connection to this defendant. His case should not be used to assign blame to people who fled violence themselves. The responsibility being adjudicated is individual, and the reporting should remain equally specific.
Reporting note: The verdict date is October 27; the federal announcement was issued October 28. This article uses the announced convictions and sentencing schedule, with separate historical context from the United Nations.
