A Rwandan woman found guilty of making false statements about her role in the country’s 1994 genocide has been stripped of her U.S. citizenship, and now faces deportation.
Beatrice Munyenyezi, 43, was granted political asylum in 1998, moving to New Hampshire with her three daughters. Years later, American authorities began to question her role in the genocide after reviewing familial ties that gave her a “front row seat” to the killings in the region.
Munyenyezi’s mother-in-law, Pauline Nyiramasuhuko, was the minister of family and women’s affairs during the time of the genocide, and was responsible for bringing in the presidential guard to begin killing Tutsis in the city of Butare.
Prosecutors claim that Munyenyezi worked at a roadblock in the city, checking the identification of travellers as they entered, separating Tutsis who would later be killed.
“If I’m checking IDs at roadblocks, knowing that person is going to be clubbed to death, I’m as responsible as if I wielded the machete myself,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney John Capin.
During a 2006 hearing for the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), Munyenyezi testified that there was no such roadblock, and that she had never seen dead bodies during her time in the Butare.
However, witnesses placed Munyenyezi at the roadblock, and a satellite photo from the U.S. Defense Department confirmed its existence. Though it is not believed that Munyenyezi had an active role in the killings, prosecutors believe that she should be held responsible for her actions.
Munyenyezi’s lawyers believe that deportation is the equivalent of a death sentence for her, as the Rwandan government will kill her upon her return. She is currently serving a 21 month sentence in a Connecticut federal prison.
