Long Island beekeeper hid his role ordering murders, rape in Rwandan genocide to live in US, feds say

John Annese, New York Daily News on Apr 24, 2025

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NEW YORK — A man who directed rapes and murders during the 1994 Rwanda genocide lied to U.S. immigration officials about his role in the 100-day massacre and started a new life as a Long Island beekeeper, federal prosecutors allege.

The feds on Thursday arrested Faustin Nsabumukunzi at his Bridgehampton home, accusing him of making false statements in his applications for a visa, green card and for U.S. citizenship.

“I know I’m finished,” he told federal agents during his arrest, according to court filings.

The genocide started April 7, 1994, a day after the presidents of Rwanda and Burundi died in a missile attack on their aircraft, when moderate Hutu prime minister of Rwanda, Agathe Uwilingiyimana, and her husband were killed by Rwandan soldiers. In the 100 days that followed, Hutu extremists slaughtered and raped hundreds of thousands of minority Tutsi and Hutu moderates.

Nsabumukunzi was a “sector counsilor” in Kibirizi, in the Butare Prefecture in Southern Rwanda, where he “held a leadership position and oversaw the violence and killing of Tutsis,” according to the feds.

He assured Tutsis at public meetings that they’d be protected at the start of the genocide, then went into private Hutu-only meetings and urged them to start killing, the feds allege.

He set up roadblocks, including one near his house, to stop Tutsis from fleeing, and directed armed Hutus to kill them, the feds allege. On April 21, 1994, he ordered the slaughter of a group of Tutsis on the grounds of an administrative office, hitting some of them in the head with a club himself as part of the violence, the indictment alleges.

He also ordered the killers to remove the bodies from the office grounds, referring to their bodies as “trash” or “garbage,” sent an armed group to kill Tutsis in other spots where they were hiding, the feds allege, and encouraged them to rape Tutsi women.

“Witnesses alleged that the defendant, as a leader, encouraged Hutu men to rape Tutsi women as a genocidal tool,” federal prosecutors wrote.

Nsabumukunzi applied for refugee status in the U.S. in 2003, denying his involvement in the genocide, according to the indictment. He was allowed to enter the U.S. as a refugee in 2004, and received his Green Card in 2007. He’s been trying to become a naturalized citizen ever since, repeatedly lying under oath or penalty of perjury that he took part in the killings, the feds allege.

Since coming to the U.S., he made a name for himself as a beekeeper, and was featured in a 2006 New York Times article and other media accounts, according to law enforcement sources.

“Numerous eyewitnesses who observed the defendant’s conduct in Rwanda in 1994 described him as one of the leaders of the genocide in Kibirizi. Many of these witnesses, who were both Hutu and Tutsi, knew the defendant before the genocide and lived with him as neighbors and friends,” federal prosecutors wrote in a letter to U.S. District Judge Joanna Seybert Thursday.

He was arraigned Thursday in Central Islip Federal Court on charges of visa fraud, attempted unlawful procurement of naturalization and attempted procurement of naturalization when not entitled.

Prosecutors asked Seybert to hold Nsabumukunzi without bail, but the judge ordered him released to home detention on $250,000 bond. He’s allowed to continue working as a gardener for the private equity investor who co-signed his bond.

The federal crimes carry maximum 10-year prison terms and he faces deportation back to Rwanda, where he could end up locked up for life.

In 2008, a community-based Rwandan court tried and convicted him in absentia and gave him a life sentence, prosecutors wrote. In 2014, the Public Prosecutor of Rwanda indicted him for crimes related to the genocide, and in 2016, Interpol Rwanda issued a “Wanted Person Diffusion Notice” against him for genocide, the feds wrote.

“As alleged, Nsabumukunzi repeatedly lied to conceal his involvement in the horrific Rwandan genocide while seeking to become a lawful permanent resident and citizen of the United States,” U.S. Attorney John Durham said Thursday.

“For over two decades, he got away with those lies and lived in the United States with an undeserved clean slate, a luxury that his victims will never have, but thanks to the tenacious efforts of our investigators and prosecutors, the defendant finally will be held accountable for his brutal actions.”

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