Genocide suspect Munyenyezi deported from US to Rwanda

Beatrice Munyenyezi, or “Bea,” as she was long known to her unsuspecting neighbours in Manchester, in the American state of New Hampshire, is suspected of participating in the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. She was deported back to Rwanda on Thursday, April 16, where she will be arrested on arrival, Friday, and charged for genocide and war crimes. 

According to an online magazine, Boston, the mother of three girls, all of whom came to the United States seeking asylum, citing the civil war in Rwanda nearly three decades ago had the nickname, “the Commander,” back in her homeland. The nickname triggered brutal memories of a killer, victims have testified, who committed multiple acts of violence, including beating a small Tutsi boy to death with a spiked club, Boston reported.

Munyenyezi was ultimately sentenced to a 10-year federal prison sentence for lying to U.S. immigration officials when she first entered the country about her participation in the 1994 Genocide, as well as her role in the MRND, the political party that formed roving bands of killers that slaughtered hundreds of thousands of their Tutsi countrymen.

According to the news report, the saga formed the basis of Boston’s 2016 National City and Regional Magazine Award-nominated feature, “The Monster Next Door.” As reported, Munyenyezi’s conviction ultimately came about after a federal agent, Brian Andersen, and other federal officials traveled to Rwanda several times to locate victims who remembered her committing multiple acts of violence.

Andersen arrested Munyenyezi at her Manchester home in 2010, and a federal jury convicted her two years later. Munyenyezi was recently released from the US prison after she completed her sentence.  "This week, the story will take another twist, as the U.S. government is scheduled to deport Munyenyezi on Thursday to her native Rwanda," Boston reported, also noting that the original story is now in development for a television series produced by MRC Studios. Kiefer Sutherland is slated to play Andersen.

Munyenyezi reportedly played a major role in the 1994 Genocide in the former Butare Prefecture, now Huye District, in Southern Rwanda. Munyenyezi is the wife of Arsene Ntahobali, who, together with his mother Pauline Nyiramasuhuko, were sentenced to life in prison by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda for their role in the Genocide.

In July 2013, District Court Judge Stephen J. McAuliffe sentenced Beatrice Munyenyezi, 51, to 10 years in prison, the maximum sentence for the charge of procuring citizenship unlawfully.  The judge also stripped Munyenyezi of her U.S. citizenship on the day of her conviction. According to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), an agency whose mission is to protect America from the cross-border crime and illegal immigration, testimony during the 12-day trial revealed that Munyenyezi concealed her role in the genocide.

Evidence at trial demonstrated that Munyenyezi, as a member of the Interahamwe, participated, aided and abetted in the persecution and murder of the Tutsi during the 1994 genocide. Several witnesses testified to Munyenyezi’s staffing of a notorious roadblock outside her home during the course of the genocide, where she checked identification of passers-by and decided who would be allowed to pass and who would be detained pending their certain death.