{"id":105,"date":"2011-05-02T22:50:16","date_gmt":"2011-05-02T22:50:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/kobayaga-trial-resumes-in-us\/"},"modified":"2011-05-02T22:48:21","modified_gmt":"2011-05-02T22:48:21","slug":"kobayaga-trial-resumes-in-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/kobayaga-trial-resumes-in-us\/","title":{"rendered":"Kobayaga trial resumes in US"},"content":{"rendered":"

A teacher who admitted burning his neighbours\u2019<\/span> homes during Rwanda\u2019s 1994 genocide has told a Kansas jury he was like an animal without humanity.<\/p>\n

The testimony came Monday in the federal trial of 84-year-old Lazare<\/span> Kobagaya<\/span>. The Topeka resident is charged with lying to U.S<\/span>. immigration officials about his role in Rwanda\u2019s ethnic mass killings. Kobagaya<\/span> has denied the charges.<\/p>\n

One of his former neighbours<\/span>, Valens<\/span> Murindangabo<\/span>, returned to the stand to testify about the events of April 1994.<\/p>\n

He testified that Kobagaya<\/span> told a mob of ethnic Hutus<\/span> to burn the homes of Tutsi neighbours<\/span> so they would not return.<\/p>\n

The defendant shook his head as Murindangabo<\/span> testified that Kobagaya\u2019s<\/span> work was to make sure the houses were destroyed.<\/p>\n

Kobagaya<\/span>, who lives in Topeka, is charged with unlawfully obtaining U.S<\/span>. citizenship in 2006 and with fraud and misuse of an alien registration card. Kobagaya<\/span> denies committing acts of genocide, and defense attorneys say they plan to call more than 20 witnesses from around the world, along with family members, to testify on his behalf.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors contend Kobagaya<\/span> concealed that he had lived in Rwanda during the genocide and participated in the attacks and slaughter of hundreds of Tutsis<\/span>. They say he lied during immigration proceedings in Wichita when he said he lived in Burundi from 1993 to 1995.<\/p>\n

If convicted, Kobagaya<\/span> faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 on each of the charges. But the indictment also seeks to revoke Kobagaya\u2019s<\/span> U.S<\/span>. citizenship, a move that would subject him to deportation. Family members have said they fear that could lead to his death.<\/p>\n

The Justice Department alleges that in April 1994 Kobagaya<\/span> directed a gathering of Hutus<\/span> to burn down houses belonging to the Tutsis<\/span>. Prosecutors also contend he mobilized attackers and ordered and coerced them to kill hundreds of Tutsis<\/span>.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors allege Kobagaya<\/span> worked with Francois Bazaramba<\/span>, a former Rwandan pastor who was sentenced last year to life imprisonment for committing genocide against the Tutsi in 1994.<\/p>\n

One of Kobagaya\u2019s<\/span> sons, Andre Kandy<\/span>, said in April 2009 that his father was in Rwanda during the time in question as a Burundi refugee. His family also said Kobagaya<\/span> was mostly bedridden while in a refugee camp. Kandy<\/span> said his father speaks little English and probably misunderstood what was being asked during the U.S<\/span>. immigration proceedings.<\/p>\n

<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A teacher who admitted burning his neighbours\u2019 homes during Rwanda\u2019s 1994 genocide has told a Kansas jury he was like an animal without humanity. The testimony came Monday in the federal trial of 84-year-old Lazare Kobagaya. The Topeka resident is charged with lying to U.S. immigration officials about his role in Rwanda\u2019s ethnic mass killings. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"byline":[277],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-105","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","byline-igihe-com-reporter"],"bylines":[{"id":277,"name":"IGIHE.com Reporter","slug":"igihe-com-reporter","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":null}],"contributors":[{"id":277,"name":"IGIHE.com Reporter","slug":"igihe-com-reporter","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":null}],"featured_image":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=105"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=105"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=105"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}