Rwandan man linked to genocide guilty of immigration fraud

BOSTON – A Rwandan man suspected of participating in the African country’s 1994 genocide has been convicted of immigration fraud and perjury after seeking asylum in the U.S.

A federal jury in Boston found Jean Leonard Teganya guilty after deliberating less than three hours Friday.

U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling said U.S. asylum laws are meant to protect “true victims of violent crime” and Teganya has been “running away from the truth” for 25 years.

Prosecutors said Teganya left Rwanda in July 1994 and was deported from Canada later for his role in the genocide. He fled to the U.S. and was found in Houlton, Maine, where prosecutors allege he failed to disclose the extent of his involvement in the genocide.

Teganya will be sentenced July 1. His public defenders didn’t comment.