Beatrice Munyenyezi accused of aiding in Rwandan genocide at New Hampshire citizenship trial
Rwandan people in Nyamasheke, Rwanda visit a memorial on April 7, 2006, the 12th anniversary of their country’s genocide.
Federal prosecutors in New Hampshire have brought a Rwandan immigrant to trial, seeking to strip her of US citizenship because they say she lied, failing to reveal he role in the genocide of 1994, according to The Associated Press.
Up to a million people, virtually all of them members of the Tutsi ethnic minority, were systematically slaughtered over a hundred days that year as the world stood by and watched.
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According to the AP, prosecutors say Beatrice Munyenyezi, 41, lied on her applications to enter the US in 1995 and for US citizenship in 2003. She denies any involvement but prosecutors says she ordered rapes and murders in Butare.
The news agency said prosecutor John Capin promised jurors today they would hear from witnesses who will testify that Munyenyezi gave specific instructions on whom to kill.
Lawyers for the woman were to make opening statements today.
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According to the local television station WMUR, Munyenyezi wept as trial began. The news station cited defense attorney Mark Howard as saying that at the time the atrocities occurred, his client was caring for a young girl and was pregnant with twin daughters. The three children, now aged 19 and 17, were present in court, according to WMUR.
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