After fleeing from indescribable massacres and sexual violence, a Rwandan beekeeper lives quietly with his family in the Hamptons, regaining a modest career he was forced to give up when nearly a million fellow countrymen and women were quickly massacred.
But, according to federal prosecutors, his new life on Long Island covers up a dark secret.
The man, Faustin Nsabumukunzi, was not fleeing genocide, but someone who was eager to participate, prosecutors said. He instructed the majority of the Hertus people to kill a minority of Tutsis, personally attacked Tutsis with the club, and ordered the Hutus to dispose of the dead Tutsis’ bodies, calling them “trash” and “trash”.
Then, according to an attorney for the Eastern District of New York, he lied when he sought refugee status in the United States in 2003 and applied again to be a permanent resident and citizen.
Mr. Nsabumukunzi was arrested Thursday morning in Bridgehampton, New York on charges of immigration fraud. If convicted, he faces up to 30 years in prison. But he may also be deported to Rwanda, where he has been searched for nearly twenty years.
Mr Nsabumukunzi, 65, appeared before Judge Joanna Seybert of Islip, Central, wearing a dark sweatshirt and jeans. He pleaded not guilty, and his son Thierry, 38, participated in the support and was released on a $250,000 margin. The bond was published by Steve Felsher, a man and Mr. Ensab Mubenzi was a gardener.
Mr Nsabumumukunzi’s lawyer, Evan Sugar, argued that his client was released on bail, noted that he had no financial means to escape the country and suffer from arthritis.
“We’re talking about a 65-year-old body with a broken body,” said Tang.
The Rwandan genocide is one of the bloodiest systematic killings in modern history, caused by the long and astonishing tensions between Hutus and Tutsis. The massacre began on April 7, 1994, when a plane carrying the President of Rwanda and Burundi landed in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda.
It is not clear who ordered the assassination, but the Rwandan-led government immediately blamed the Tutsi rebels. Hutu Radio announcers instructed their listeners to “extinguish cockroaches” and “cut down high trees”, referring to Tussis.
During the three months of 1994, the Hutus methodically hunted down Tusi men and women. Hutus burned Tutsis’s house, hacked them to death with a machete, and raped them. By July, about 800,000 Tasis had been killed.
In the fall of 2024, investigators traveled to Rwanda to interview witnesses for ethnic cleansing, prosecutors said in court Thursday. Those people told investigators that Mr. Nassubenzi was more than just beekeeper: as an administrator of the municipality, Kibirizi, who helped with the massacre.
“He’s kind of like a local,” said Samantha Alessi, an assistant US attorney.
Prosecutors said that in the early days of the genocide, Mr. Nasukumz assured Tutsis in a public meeting that they would be protected from violence to prevent them from escaping. He then held a private meeting with Hotus who he directed to kill Tutsis, who helped establish obstacles in Tutsis’s home to prevent them from escaping.
Two weeks after the genocide began, Mr. Nsabumukunzi instructed a group of Hutu people to kill Tutsis, who were gathered in his administrative office. Prosecutors said later, he encouraged rape and sexual slavery of Tutsi women.
In 2008, while living in the United States, Mr. Nsabumukunzi was convicted by the Rwandan court in the “community” and sentenced for absenteeism. Six years later, Rwanda’s prosecutors re-prosecuted him on genocide-related charges. In 2016, Rwanda Interpol issued a notice to Mr. Nsabumukunzi.
Mr. Sugar said in court Thursday that the U.S. government’s case relies on evidence to prove that the facts are vague. He noted that Mr. Nasumuchi had never been prosecuted by the United Nations Court of International Genocide.
Mr. Nsabumukunzi introduced him in a 2006 article in the New York Times that described him as a refugee who lived a relatively comfortable life before the genocide. According to this article, in Rwanda, Mr. Nsabumukunzi oversees 150 beekeepers and 1,500 hives. On Long Island, he oversees about 100 hives for the Hamptons Honey Company, which hired him to expand its production.
Since 2009, Gabriel Alfaya, owner of Hamptons Honey, said he was unaware that Mr Nsabumukunzi had worked for the company and had never seen him.
Several people fleeing other countries in Rwanda were arrested for suspected killing.
Rwandan woman Beatrice Munyenyezi was sentenced to 10 years in prison by a federal judge in Massachusetts in 2013 because she did not disclose allegations of genocide, similar to Mr Nsabumukunzi. She was deported to Rwanda in February, where she was quickly sentenced to life imprisonment.
On Thursday morning, he seemed to have mastered the seriousness of his situation as Mr Nsabumumukunzi was read out during his arrest.
“I know I’m done,” the prosecutor said.
