The son of a man accused of lying to immigration officials about his participation in the 1994 Rwandan genocide took the stand on Monday to testify about their life as Burundian refugees in Rwanda and his father’s efforts years later to become a United States citizen.
That testimony was delivered as the defence team for Lazare Kobagaya began laying out its case. The 84-year-old Topeka, Kansas, man is charged with unlawfully obtaining US citizenship in 2006 and with fraud and misuse of an alien registration card. The indictment also seeks to revoke his citizenship.
Prosecutors have said the case is the first in the US requiring proof of genocide. An estimated 500Â 000 to 800Â 000 people, mostly ethnic Tutsis, were killed by Hutu militias in Rwanda between April and July 1994.
Jean Claude Kandagaye testified that his father is a Hutu and his mother is a Tutsi. Kandagaye told jurors that while he was growing up in Rwanda, his family was discriminated against because they were Burundian refugees. As refugees, they could not join political parties, attend public secondary schools or get some jobs and social services.
Kandagaye told jurors that as a refugee his father was not a leader in the Rwandan village of Birambo where they lived — a key point as the defence team tries to counter the government’s allegations that Kobagaya was an influential community leader who led others during the genocide.
Kandagaye, who filled out an immigration form in 2005 for his father, is considered a key witness as the defence tries to show jurors that the elderly Kobagaya did not understand English well and depended on others to translate documents and help him fill out immigration paperwork.
Earlier on Monday, prosecutors rested their case after putting on the stand the immigration official who interviewed Kobagaya during his citizenship application in April 2006.
Adjudication officer Jeryl Bean testified that Kobagaya responded “no” when asked whether he had ever persecuted anyone or ever committed any crimes for which he was not convicted. Kobagaya also denied ever giving false information to immigration officials or lying to them to gain entry into the United States, she testified.
Prosecutors used Bean to attack Kobagaya’s claim that he did not purposefully misrepresent to immigration officials that he was not living in Rwanda during the 1994 genocide because he was unfamiliar with the English language and may have misunderstood that question on the immigration forms.
The defense has argued that it was one of his sons, Kandagaye, who actually filled out the paperwork because Kobagaya did not speak English at the time.
However, Bean told jurors that Kobagaya spoke English and that no interpreter or family member was present during the 2006 interview for his citizenship. — Sapa-AP