A teacher who admitted burning his neighbours’ homes during Rwanda’s 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’s ethnic mass killings. Kobagaya has denied the charges.
One of his former neighbours, Valens Murindangabo, returned to the stand to testify about the events of April 1994.
He testified that Kobagaya told a mob of ethnic Hutus to burn the homes of Tutsi neighbours so they would not return.
The defendant shook his head as Murindangabo testified that Kobagaya’s work was to make sure the houses were destroyed.
Kobagaya, who lives in Topeka, is charged with unlawfully obtaining U.S. citizenship in 2006 and with fraud and misuse of an alien registration card. Kobagaya 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.
Prosecutors contend Kobagaya concealed that he had lived in Rwanda during the genocide and participated in the attacks and slaughter of hundreds of Tutsis. They say he lied during immigration proceedings in Wichita when he said he lived in Burundi from 1993 to 1995.
If convicted, Kobagaya 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’s U.S. citizenship, a move that would subject him to deportation. Family members have said they fear that could lead to his death.
The Justice Department alleges that in April 1994 Kobagaya directed a gathering of Hutus to burn down houses belonging to the Tutsis. Prosecutors also contend he mobilized attackers and ordered and coerced them to kill hundreds of Tutsis.
Prosecutors allege Kobagaya worked with Francois Bazaramba, a former Rwandan pastor who was sentenced last year to life imprisonment for committing genocide against the Tutsi in 1994.
One of Kobagaya’s sons, Andre Kandy, said in April 2009 that his father was in Rwanda during the time in question as a Burundi refugee. His family also said Kobagaya was mostly bedridden while in a refugee camp. Kandy said his father speaks little English and probably misunderstood what was being asked during the U.S. immigration proceedings.
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