A Rwandan national accused of participating in the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi has been deported from the United States and handed over to authorities in Kigali to face prosecution.
Jean Léonard Teganya arrived at Kigali International Airport on Monday evening, November 9, 2026, under the escort of American law enforcement officers before being transferred to Rwandan police custody.
Rwanda’s National Public Prosecution Authority (NPPA) confirmed his return, marking the end of a decades-long international pursuit that took him through several countries, including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, India and Canada.
Teganya was a medical student at the University Teaching Hospital of Butare (CHUB) during the 1994 genocide. Rwandan prosecutors accuse him of working with the Interahamwe militia to identify and target Tutsi patients, medical workers and students who had sought refuge within the hospital.
Authorities allege that he helped locate victims who were subsequently taken away and killed behind the hospital’s maternity ward.
After the genocide ended in July 1994, Teganya fled Rwanda and travelled through several countries before arriving in Canada in 1999 using an allegedly fraudulent Zimbabwean passport. He applied for asylum but was denied after Canadian authorities raised concerns about his alleged involvement in human rights violations and ordered his removal from the country.
In August 2014, Teganya reportedly crossed into the United States on foot near Houlton, Maine, in an attempt to avoid deportation to Rwanda. He subsequently sought asylum but allegedly concealed information about his political affiliations and activities during the genocide. US authorities later charged him with immigration fraud and perjury for providing false information during the immigration process.
In April 2019, a federal jury in Boston found him guilty of two counts of immigration fraud and three counts of perjury following an 18-day trial. Federal Judge F. Denis Saylor IV subsequently sentenced him to 97 months in prison after finding that he had repeatedly lied to immigration authorities and under oath.
Following the completion of his prison sentence, Teganya was transferred to immigration custody, paving the way for his deportation to Rwanda. Rwandan prosecutors had formally indicted him in 2014 over his alleged role in the genocide.
He is now expected to face proceedings before Rwandan courts, where he will answer to allegations relating to the killing of Tutsi patients, medical personnel and other people who had sought safety at the hospital.
The NPPA welcomed the cooperation between Rwandan and American authorities, saying the transfer would help advance efforts to bring suspected genocide perpetrators to justice.
